Gwen: Senate bid to boost One Cebu through alliance

In confirming her bid for a Senate seat, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she was counting on the support of all Cebuano and Visayan-speaking voters in 2013.

“Yes, I will run for the Senate, and I am doing this not for myself. I am doing this for Cebu,” she said a day after her announcement was made in an evening caucus of the One Cebu party at the Marco Polo Plaza.

She said the move would strengthen her political party through an alliance with Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“We do believe that we can increase One Cebu’s political strength if we align ourselves with a strong national party (headed by) Binay, former president Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile,” she stold Cebu Daily News.

She said One Cebu would declare its formal support to the United National Alliance (UNA) when Binay visits Cebu next month.

“The vice president also recognizes that we have our local party here in Cebu. I am doing this for the party, to strengthen further One Cebu, which is the province’s strongest political party,” she said.

“I think everybody knows that this election will not only be about 2013. This is already in preparation for 2016 (the presidential election).”

Garcia described how her final decision to run came about during Estrada’s birthday party in Manila on Friday, April 20 which she attended.

She said Bukidnon Vice Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri, whom she had met during the recent signing of a sisterhood agreement between Cebu and Bukidnon, asked: “Will you finally decide?”

“And when I looked at him, I guess I just said: ‘I think I shall go along with that direction.’ He pulled me right away towards the vice president and told the VP: ‘Gwen has decided,’” Garcia recounted.

“Things happened very fast after that. Of course, we formally sat down with the vice president and we formally signified our intention if we would be given a slot in the slate,” she added.

Garcia said she was thankful for Binay’s pronouncement in Iloilo that UNA has a slot for her.

She said she met with One Cebu-affiliated mayors in Marco Polo Plaza Thursday evening to listen to their sentiments on a run for the Senate.

“I told them that it’s very striking that not one of you suggested that I run for any other position,” the governor said. Garcia is on her third and last term as Cebu governor.

Her youngest brother Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district also announced his bid for the Cebu governorship next year.

Gwen said she also sat down with her immediate family to announce her decision.

She said the slot for vice governor will be reserved for incumbent Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale.

“That is always reserved for her, she being an incumbent and her party Bakud being an ally of One Cebu,” she said.

The governor said her Senate candidacy is “another mountain to climb” and she called on Cebuanos to support her bid.

“I told One Cebu members that I’m used to climbing, that I once climbed the Capitol roof,” Garcia said.

Garcia said the Cebu model of economic growth and progress could be brought to the national government if she manages to land in the Senate.

“If we as Cebuanos and what we have learned and achieved can contribute to the growth of our country, then this is really the best opportunity now to take up this challenge,” she said.

“Sometimes the decision is made for you though it takes you to say it out loud,” Garcia said.