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CEBU CITY, Philippines – With only a few days left for campaigns for the 2025 polls, it’s become very clear again just how much candidates, especially those running for Senate, need the backing of local leaders like Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia.
On Wednesday, May 7, former senator Francis Pangilinan made a surprise announcement in his miting de avance at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, about the support he had received from the governor during a meeting with officials from different cities and municipalities in Cebu island.
“Nasorpresa ako at itinaas ang aking kamay ni Governor Gwen Garcia, inendorso ang ating kandidatura. Malaking bagay ito dahil ang Cebu ang pinakamalaking voting na probinsya sa buong Pilipinas,” Pangilinan said.
(I was surprised that Governor Gwen Garcia raised my hand and endorsed my candidacy. This is a huge thing because Cebu is the largest voting province in the whole Philippines.)
This may have been surprising for the senatorial candidate because in 2022, Garcia and her One Cebu party endorsed the Uniteam tandem of then-candidates Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte — the opponents of former vice president Leni Robredo and Pangilinan for the presidential and vice presidential seats, respectively.
But the governor and her party have been known to form alliances with candidates that rank the highest among Cebuano voters based on their internal surveys.
The 2022 results released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed that Marcos got 1,522,846 votes in Cebu, the country’s most vote-rich province at the time, while Duterte got an even higher vote count of 1,782,985 in the same place.
This was preceded by Garcia telling reporters in an April 18, 2022 One Cebu rally, that she vowed to deliver a higher voting margin than what former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Rodrigo Duterte got in Cebu.
Both ex-presidents got the support of the governor and more than a million votes in the province during their respective presidential bids.
“Wala tayong malaking makinarya pero ngayon, dahil sa One Cebu, dahil sa endorsement ni Governor Gwen, meron tayong malaking makinarya dito sa Cebu (We don’t have a big machinery but now, because of One Cebu, because of the endorsement of Governor Gwen, we have a big machinery here in Cebu),” he added.
Iron Lady of Cebu
Garcia was first elected governor in 2004, succeeding her father, the late Pablo Garcia — patriarch of the Garcia clan and governor of Cebu.
She was then elected representative of Cebu’s 3rd District from 2013 to 2019, became House deputy speaker from 2016 to 2018, and then was elected governor again in 2019 and in 2022.
In 2007, One Cebu, the province’s ruling party, was created in response to proposals by lawmakers to split Cebu into four separate provinces — termed as “Sugbuak”. Garcia led the opposition to the proposed split, effectively uniting and gaining the support of local leaders from rural village chiefs to city mayors and their supporters.
This would prove to be a useful arsenal that would not only bring a high vote percentage for Arroyo whom One Cebu supported in 2007, but also for Garcia, who got more than 400,000 votes in the 2004 polls to more than 700,000 in 2007.
This marked a significant precedent for national candidates in choosing allies south of Manila — that they needed to somehow gain the favor of Cebu’s ruling elite. But, of course, there were some exceptions.
In 2010, One Cebu supported the presidential bid of Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. who lost to Benigno Aquino III. The former president had a strong connection to Cebu due to the province being a former hotbed of anti-Marcos sentiment during the Martial Law years.
Later on, the One Cebu party lent its support to Duterte, who won bigtime in Cebu in the 2016 elections, and then again to Duterte’s daughter, Sara and her former ally Marcos Jr. in 2022. In that election, Garcia and her party delivered more than a million votes to the Uniteam tandem.
All politics is local
This year, Garcia is endorsing 10 out of 11 candidates in Marcos’ Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate and not a single bet from the Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban).
In the eyes of Duterte supporters in Cebu, the governor had turned her back on the former president, which may have prompted her to state in a speech during her March 28 opening campaign sortie that while she supported Marcos, she still had respect for Duterte.
Based on 2022 Comelec data mapped by Rappler, both Sara and Marcos had votes higher than 50,000 in places like Toledo City, Talisay City, Danao City, Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City. But in all those places, Sara always had more votes than Marcos.
In Cebu City alone, Sara got 360,428 votes while Marcos got 325,060 in the 2022 polls.
A polling survey from the University of San Carlos – Department of Political Science (USC DPS) conducted from April 11 to 12 with 1,306 voters in Cebu City, showed that more than 900 of their respondents were against Sara’s impeachment, while at least 1,000 were against the former president’s arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
However, USC DPS faculty member Niño Olayvar told Rappler on Thursday, May 8, that while the Dutertes still had a significant support base in Cebu, it’s not as strong as Garcia’s influence over local leaders.
On September 30, 2024, One Cebu held a grand convention which was attended by 52 out of 53 local mayors, 11 out of 12 congressmen, all 17 provincial board members, and a large bloc of councilors in Cebu’s local government units.
“There is still greater influence for who the local elites, the local politicians carry because they will be the ones to negotiate with the communities,” Olayvar said in Cebuano.
The USC DPS faculty explained that residents would often attribute government services and aid to administration leaders, especially when they were visible during the distributions.
In Garcia’s case, she was present with other public servants during the launch of the P20 per kilo rice sale at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, despite criticism and the Comelec’s ban on aid distribution during the campaign period.
An August 2024 article posted on the Cebu provincial government’s public information website narrated how the Cebu provincial government, under Garcia’s leadership, had given aid worth P6 million to each of the seven local governments in the 3rd district — including Toledo City and the towns of Aloguinsan, Asturias, Balamban, Barili, Pinamungajan, and Tuburan.
“At the end of the day, whoever gave you the aid, who gave you benefits and services will be a great factor, and as an admin candidate, you have that advantage,” Olayvar said in a mix of English and Cebuano.
Courting Cebu
The entire province of Cebu, including the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Cebu, has at least 3.4 million registered voters who will be choosing senators, congressmen, and local officials on May 12.
Garcia’s primary rival for the gubernatorial post is humanitarian Pamela Baricuatro. Unlike Garcia, Baricuatro has just entered politics and has a limited supply of allies who are still in administration positions.
Baricuatro’s allies include the Durano clan in Danao City and Team Liberate Cebu, consisting of Cebu City mayoral candidate Mike Rama, Lapu-Lapu City mayoral candidate Paz Radaza, and other mayoral bets aligned with PDP-Laban.
Marcos endorsed Garcia during the One Cebu rally in Dumanjug town on May 5. Baricuatro also received an endorsement from the Duterte patriarch himself on February 22.
Garcia’s rallies in the northern and southern towns of Cebu saw the participation of Alyansa bets and senatorial candidates Francis Tolentino, Manny Pacquiao, Benhur Abalos, Bong Revilla, Abby Binay, Ping Lacson, Pia Cayetano, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, and even Camille Villar.
Baricuatro has had rallies and motorcades with Duterte supporters all over Cebu as well, and on April 22, she had a brief encounter with the Vice President. Baricuatro, however, clarified that there was no endorsement from the Duterte daughter.
According to USC DPS faculty member Rejene Lakibul, improving health services is top of mind for Cebuano voters.
Baricuatro had been vocal in the past about the lack of staff and medicine in provincial hospitals. Her website shows that among her priorities is expanding medical services to underserved areas in the province.
Garcia’s narrative, on the other hand, especially on social media posts, is that “she has delivered and will continue to deliver on promises,” particularly on her “Caravan of Services” platform which features an array of medical services and government assistance that have been provided in capitol-run hospitals and government centers.
“Garcia will continue to keep the votes because she can deliver on the concrete things that voters articulated they would want,” Lakibul said.
Will final results bear that out? – Rappler.com
