The winning candidates will take over from the appointees of President Benigno Aquino III, who replaced the officials who had their terms expire on 2011.

In addition, the provincial board has a seat reserved for the president of the provincial chapter of the League of Councilors which are indirectly elected from the city and municipal levels, and two more seats reserved for the presidents of the provincial chapters of the Association of Barangay (village) Captains (ABC) and of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK; youth councils).

The city council has up to 36 regular members elected via plurality-at-large voting.

Aside from these regular members, city councils also have two ex officio members composed of the president of the city chapters of the Association of Barangay (village) Captains (ABC) and of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK; youth councils).

By locality: For April 14 weekend, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' Vice President Archbishop Socrates Villegas instructed priests to tell their flock during mass "not to vote for the candidate if the candidate cannot declare a categorical and clear 'no' to divorce, abortion, euthanasia, total birth control and homosexual marriages or death issues."

This was seen as a setback for President Benigno Aquino's allies who had passed a birth control law the previous year.