The 1988 elections marked a major turning point in Naga City politics. The election was the first held under the new democratic system following the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos and the rise of President Corazon Aquino. The former ruling party, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), had been discredited, and new coalitions emerged at the local level.
In Naga, long-time political kingmaker Luis Villafuerte backed his nephew, Jesse Robredo, then a young technocrat and director of the Bicol River Basin Development Program. Robredo ran under the newly formed Lakas ng Bansa party. In opposition was the Cory Coalition, led by the brothers of Senator Raul Roco and Representative Ciriaco Alfelor, who sought to challenge Villafuerte's influence. Ramon Roco, Raul’s brother, ran for mayor, while the Liberal Party and other independents also fielded candidates.
Robredo won the mayoralty by a narrow margin, becoming the youngest city mayor in the Philippines at the time. However, his party secured only two out of ten council seats; the rest were won by candidates affiliated with the Cory Coalition. Despite this, Robredo would go on to build a strong reform-oriented administration and was later recognized as one of the most effective local executives in the country.[2]
Vice mayoral candidate Antonio G. Dy-Prieto, a businessman, would later be appointed by President Joseph Estrada as his Presidential Assistant on Bicol Affairs in 1998, a position in which he was alleged to have engaged in sending jueteng money to Chavit Singson.[3]
Ten city councilors were elected. The Cory Coalition, which opposed Robredo, secured eight of the ten seats, while only two candidates from the Lakas ng Bansa slate aligned with Robredo were elected. Despite Robredo’s victory as mayor, his administration initially faced a city council dominated by the opposition.
