How Albay voted in the 2025 elections
Though the status of his candidacy is still up in the air, Noel Rosal is poised to make a return to the provincial capitol. He also handed Joey Salceda his first electoral defeat.
Hello, mga kababayan!
It was a close fight for governor in 2025 between two of Albay’s political bigwigs. In the end, one is poised to return to the capitol, while the other tasted an election loss for the very first time.
Despite questions on his candidacy, ousted governor Noel Rosal won against ex-governor and outgoing 2nd District Representative Jose Ma. Clemente “Joey” Salceda by just a one percentage-point margin, or some 9,000 votes.
This is Rosal’s second time defeating a major dynasty in the Albay polls. In 2022, he unseated long-time governor Al Francis Bichara. But he faced a string of cases that led to his removal later that same year. (More details below.)
Rosal, endorsed by PDP-Laban in the 2025 race, courted Albayanons to bring him back at the province’s helm. Blocking his path was Salceda with a capitol comeback of his own, running under the Lakas-CMD banner. Since he entered politics in 1998, Salceda has always secured 3 consecutive full terms: as 3rd district congressman, then as governor, then 2nd district congressman.
In 2025, that winning streak was broken.
Rosal’s biggest lead, as expected, was in his bailiwick Legazpi City, the provincial capital, with nearly 63% of the vote. He also won in the cities of Ligao and Tabaco and in 5 eastern mainland towns, especially in Daraga where he had a 10,000 vote margin.
On the other hand, Salceda was widely supported in his hometown of Polangui (with 73% of the vote), in Pio Duran and the rest of the 3rd district (except in Ligao City), as well as in Malinao. He also got a landslide win in the islands of Rapu-Rapu. Salceda kept the race close in Camalig and Manito.
Rosal’s legal woes
A few months into his first term as governor, Rosal and his wife Carmen Geraldine who succeeded him as Legazpi City mayor were hit with disqualification cases stemming from a reported violation of the public spending ban during the 2022 local election campaign period. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) ousted him from office in November 2022. The Supreme Court upheld it two years later.
In a separate case, the Office of the Ombudsman in September 2024 barred Rosal from holding public office due to his supposed illegal reassignment of department heads during his short stint as governor. This prompted a petitioner to ask for Rosal;’s disqualification from the gubernatorial race. Rosal secured a TRO from the Supreme Court in January 2025 to stop this order while his case is being appealed, so he remained on the ballot.
Rosal has been proclaimed governor after the May 12 polls, but his fate is again in the hands of the courts. On May 5, the Court of Appeals denied his plea to stop the Ombudsman’s order to perpetually ban him from public office, then argued it can already be implemented even while the Ombudsman’s decision as a whole is on appeal. The Office of the Solicitor General also said as much in a motion to the Supreme Court later that month to lift the TRO it granted to Rosal.
The returning governor maintained that there isn’t a final ruling yet on his disqualification. Will he be able to overcome these hurdles?
Vice Governor
The province’s second-highest post, however, went to Rosal’s opponent’s running-mate.
Farida “Diday” Co (Lakas-CMD) received 54% of the vote, besting radio broadcaster Hermogenes “Jun” Alegre Jr. (PDP-Laban), 3rd District Board Member Dante Arandia (Independent), and businessman Virgilio Goyena (Workers and Peasants Party).
Co is the sister of Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy Co, whose group was reelected in the party list race.
The vice governor-elect won in the same towns Salceda did, but added Ligao City, Tiwi, and Santo Domingo in her column. She also fared better in Jovellar.
Alegre won in just 2 cities and 3 towns, and netted a bit over 50% of the vote only in Legazpi City and Malilipot. His margin against Co never exceeded 7% in any of these areas.
Close House races
Salceda might not be entirely gloomy despite his gubernatorial defeat: Besides his running-mate becoming Vice Governor, his nephew will also succeed him in the House.
Polangui Mayor Raymond Adrian Salceda (Lakas-CMD) emerged the winner against two-term Representative Fernando Cabredo (National Unity Party) by just 1.9 percentage points for the 3rd District seat.
Besides in his home base Polangui where he was up by 14,600+ votes, Salceda secured a 7,000-vote margin in Pio Duran and a 3,600-vote margin in Libon to overcome Cabredo’s 16,300 vote advantage in Ligao City and an extra 2,800+ push in Guinobatan. The races were extremely tight in Oas (which Cabredo won) and in Jovellar (which Salceda won).
The Salcedas’ Lakas-CMD partymates, though, weren’t victorious in similarly photo-finish contests in the other two House districts.
In the 2nd District, businessman Carlos “Caloy” Loria (PDP-Laban), who is part of Rosal’s ticket, won against former Ako Bicol representative Christopher “Kito” Co with even a smaller margin, by just 1.2 percentage points or 3,310 votes. Kito is a sibling of Zaldy and Diday Co.
Loria and Co duked it out in Legazpi City, with Loria pulling ahead by just 2,100+ votes. Co was up by a combined 12,700 votes in Manito and Rapu-Rapu, but it wasn’t enough to surpass Loria’s leads in Camalig and Daraga.
Another Ako Bicol party list lawmaker, Raul Angelo “Jil” Bongalon, was unsuccessful in claiming the vacant 1st District seat long held by the Lagman family. Term-limited Tabaco City Mayor Cielo Krisel Lagman-Luistro will return to the House to succeed his late father Edcel Lagman. She defeated Bongalon by some 21,200 votes.
Bongalon won in Malinao only, and just by 951 votes. Lagman posted double-digit percentage point margins in Tabaco City as well as in Malilipot. But none of them had a vote share of 60% above in any locality.
Other local contests
Here’s a graphic showing all local results in Albay, including the winning board members in each of the 3 districts.
Lakas-CMD will take 7 of the 10 elective board seats, including the 4 it swept in the 3rd district. Rosal’s sole board member pick made it in the 2nd district, while 2 in Rep. Lagman-Luistro’s ticket will take the remaining seats in the 1st district.
In the graphic, the top 15 senatorial candidates and top 5 party list groups in the province are also shown.
The group that topped the race there is of course Ako Bicol, which will have 2 seats in the 20th Congress. Those will go to reelectionist Rep. Elizaldy Co and the returning Alfredo Garbin. Rosal endorsed Ang Probinsyano party list, which placed a far second in the province.
In addition, listed in the graphic are the winners of the contests for mayor and vice mayor in each town, including that of ex-officio board member and punong barangay Hisham Ismail (Lakas-CMD) in Legazpi City who defeated the Governor-elect’s wife Carmen Geraldine Rosal.
The officials who ascended to the province’s two top posts after the ousters of Governor Rosal and later Vice Governor Grex Lagman took the top posts in Tabaco City in 2025 but now with their roles reversed.
Outgoing Vice Governor Rey Bragais (Lakas-CMD) had a close mayoralty fight versus former mayor Alex Burce (LP) in a 5-way race that also featured Rosal’s brother Benjie (PDP-Laban) and 2 other bets. Meanwhile, outgoing Governor Baby Glenda Bongao (LP) defeated 1st District Board Member Victor Ziga Jr. (Lakas-CMD) for vice mayor.
Meanwhile, two more Salcedas won local posts: Jesciel Richard Salceda as Mayor of Polangui, and Juan Miguel Salceda as the top-ranking 3rd District Board Member. Rep. Salceda is Jesciel’s uncle and Juan Miguel’s adoptive father.
Overall, 5 mayors and 7 vice mayors were reelected. Six mayors and 8 vice mayors are from Lakas-CMD.
#ODIBa!
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