CEBU — Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia was proclaimed Wednesday night as winner of the gubernatorial race in this vote-rich province with a margin of 96,000 votes, giving the first lady governor of Cebu her third and final term.

Rep. Pablo Garcia, the governor’s father, was also reelected to his post in the 2nd District while his son, Rep. Pablo John Garcia, also handily won in the 3rd District.

Governor Garcia garnered a total of 639,587 votes against the 543,246 of Hilario Davide III, son of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., prompting the Provincial Board of Canvassers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim her as winner.

Garcia, chairman of Cebu’s ruling party One Cebu, said her rivals tried to use smear campaign against her, but she still prevailed. The governor said despite the black propaganda against her, the people of Cebu still gave her a new mandate.

Garcia said she will finish the projects that she started in her first two terms of office.

Garcia lost in most of the first district, where her party One Cebu forged an alliance with the dominant district party Alayon, led by Rep. Eduardo Gullas. She won in the second, third, fourth and fifth districts, but lost in the sixth district.

Garcia said she will analyze the results, although she said it will not be a priority. She was proclaimed Wednesday night, along with the province’s seven congressmen, all of whom are her political allies.

Majority of the newly proclaimed mayors in Cebu are also allied with Lakas and One Cebu.

Incumbent vice governor Gregorio Sanchez was also declared winner in the vice gubernatorial race although Glenn Soco, who was the running mate of Garcia, gave Sanchez a run for his money. Sanchez won by 26,000 votes.

In the First District, Rep. Eduardo Gullas was given an overwhelming fresh mandate, garnering 209,208 votes while his closest rival, Luna Sabalones, only got 10,527 votes.

In the 4th District, incumbent Rep. Benhur Salimbangon handily won the race this time with a total of 137,324 votes against former Bogo Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, who only got 66,165.

Rep. Ramon “Red” Durano VI was also reelected in the 5th District with a total of 163,874 votes against his cousin Jesus Durano, Jr. who got 24,441 votes.

Former Provincial Board Member Gabriel Luis ‘Luigi’ Quisumbing was the runaway winner in the 6th District congressional race with an overwhelming 113,996 votes against rivals Ariston “Baludong” Cortes with 10,402 votes.

Meanwhile, all candidates of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) were proclaimed winners by the Cebu City board of canvassers (BOC) after the ruling party in the city scored a landslide victory reminiscent of the landslide victory of all BOPK candidates in 2007.

Mayor-elect Michael Rama got 210,520 votes or 55 percent of the 382,590 votes cast in the city last Monday.

He beat former mayor Alvin Garcia of the opposition party Kugi Uswag Sugbo by 90,793 votes.

“I don’t want to be proud of the number of votes I got but I’m very proud that the Cebuanos put their trust and confidence in the way I have been working in the past 18 years. If that is vindication, so be it,” he told reporters after he was proclaimed winner in the mayoral race.

Rama promised constituents the same brand of BOPK leadership, where all of them will work as a team to deliver efficient and effective public service.

He said he welcomes any help from Mayor Tomas Osmeña on running the South Road Properties (SRP), the 290-hectare reclamation project Osmeña conceptualized and helped implement.