He spent his secondary education (high school) in Ateneo de Cagayan, and received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees from Ateneo de Manila University.

After his wife's term (1998–2001), he ran for Cebu City 2nd District's Congressional seat.

On May 18, 2007, he was elected to a third term as Congressman of the 2nd District of Cebu City in the House of Representatives.

Cuenco ran for, and won a seat in the Cebu City Council during the 2019 elections placing 4th with 140,139 votes.

The younger Cuenco said that his father experienced "mild fever and incessant coughing" on June 18 which prompted them to conduct a swab test and later showed on June 20 that the elder Cuenco was positive from the said virus.