Alvin Biaño Garcia (born June 29, 1946) is a Filipino politician and lawyer who served twice as the

Mayor of Cebu City The mayor of Cebu City ( ceb, Punong Dakbayan sa Sugbo) is the chief executive of the government of Cebu City in the Philippines. The mayor leads the city's departments in executing ordinances and delivering public services. The mayorship is a t ...

from 1995 to 1998 and from 1998 to 2001. He served as the vice mayor of the said city from 1988 to 1995 alongside the mayor at the time: Tomas Osmeña. He is also the founder of

Kugi Uswag Sugbo Kugi Uswag Sugbo (), commonly known as KUSUG, is a local political party based in Cebu City, Philippines and was founded by former Mayor Alvin Garcia. It is allied with Partido Barug of incumbent mayor Michael Rama since 2013. Electoral ...

(KUSUG), a local political party based in Cebu City.

Early life and career

Garcia is the son of Jesus Paras Garcia and Severiana Biaño. His father is the brother of former Cebu Governor Pablo Paras Garcia making him the cousin of current governor

Gwendolyn Garcia Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia (born October 12, 1955) is a Filipina politician serving as the governor of Cebu since 2019, a position she previously held from 2004 and 2013—being the first woman to hold that office. She was the representative of Ceb ...

. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar on March 10, 1971. He later founded the J.P. Garcia & Associates along with his brother, Jesus Jr.

Political career

Vice mayor, 1988–1995

Garcia started his political career as vice mayor to Tomas Osmeña in 1988. Both served for two consecutive terms until Osmeña gave way to Garcia to run as mayor in the 1995 elections. He also served as president of the Vice Mayors' League of the Philippines from 1992 to 1995.

Mayor, 1995–2001

He was first elected as mayor in 1995. He went on to serve for two terms until 2001 when he was defeated by Osmeña, his political mentor, who challenged him in the

2001 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2001. Africa * 2001 Beninese presidential election * 2001 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 2001 Cape Verdean presidential election * 2001 Chadian presidential election * 2001 Gabonese legislat ...

. The defeat of the

Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (), commonly known as BO–PK or BOPK, is a local political party based in Cebu City, Philippines. It is a political party run by the Osmeña family of Cebu since 1987 when Tomas Osmeña first ran for mayor of ...

(BO–PK) candidate in the local councilors league election started the rift between Garcia and Osmeña which was then followed by the latter's public criticisms.

Post-mayoral career

In the

2004 elections 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, Garcia sought to reclaim his old post as mayor but was defeated again by then mayor Osmeña by almost 40,000 votes. He declined to run for the same position in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

but ran in the 2010 elections after expressing confidence in the automated elections. He was once again defeated but this time by then vice mayor Michael Rama who was chosen by Osmeña to succeed him. When Rama bolted Osmeña's BO–PK group in 2011 and sought re-election as mayor, Garcia and his group KUSUG endorsed him,

Edgardo Labella Edgardo Colina Labella (; May 22, 1951 – November 19, 2021) was a Filipino politician and lawyer who served as the mayor of Cebu City from 2019 until his death in 2021. Prior to becoming mayor, he was the city's vice mayor from 2013 to 2019 a ...

as vice mayor,

Annabelle Rama Annabelle Rosales Rama-Gutierrez (born October 31, 1952), commonly known as Annabelle Rama, is a Filipino actress and talent manager with Spanish and Chinese descent. She is a native of Cebu and the wife of the 1960s Philippine cinema matinee id ...

1st district The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Inn ...

representative and Aristotle Batuhan as 2nd district representative. Garcia's political group later allied itself with Team Rama (now Partido Barug), a political party formed by Rama. Garcia ran for the position of representative of Cebu City's 1st district against incumbent

Raul del Mar Raul Veloso del Mar (March 20, 1941 – November 16, 2020) was a Filipino politician who served as the Representative of Cebu City's 1st district three times: from 1987 to 1998, from 2001 to 2010, and from 2013 until his death in 2020. He wa ...

in the

2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...

but was overwhelmingly defeated by more than 70,000 votes.

Controversies

F.E. Zuellig asphalt deal

Garcia was embroiled in a controversy involving F.E. Zuellig, the Philippine distributor of asphalt brand Bitumex, after signing a contract that gave an advance payment to the said company for 600 metric tons of

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

that was not delivered.

Fair Elections Act violation

In 2006, criminal charges were filed against Garcia by the Commission on Elections for alleged violation of Section 6 of Republic Act No. 9006, otherwise known as the Fair Elections Act, after going over the allowable limit of political advertisement in a newspaper during the

. This stemmed from the complaint filed by Osmeña pertaining to the political advertisements that ran in

SunStar Cebu ''SunStar Cebu'', often stylized as ''Sun•Star Cebu'' (formerly ''Sun•Star Daily''), is a community newspaper in Cebu City, the Philippines. It is the flagship newspaper of the SunStar network of newspapers and is the leading newspaper in ...

from April 26 to May 2, 2004.

Condominium project anomaly

The

Office of the Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

in 2013 filed two counts of graft against Garcia for the alleged overpricing of the construction of a condominium project in 1997 when he was serving as mayor. The Sandiganbayan later dismissed the charges against Garcia and members of the Pre-qualification Bids and Awards Committee due to "inordinate delay" that "violated their constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases."

Personal life

Garcia is married to Trinidad "Ninette" Neri Garcia. They have three children namely Jess Anthony, Jerald Mark and Raymond Alvin. He also has a 5 percent share of SunStar Publishing, Inc., a media company based in Cebu City.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Alvin 1946 births Living people Cebuano people Vice Mayors of Cebu City Mayors of Cebu City 20th-century Filipino lawyers Garcia family of Cebu