Incumbent Gwen Garcia beats Ace Durano by landslide for Cebu governor

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Incumbent Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia defeated gubernatorial rival Ace Durano by a landslide.

According to the final tally by the Cebu Provincial Board of Canvassers completed past 8 pm on Tuesday, May 10, Garcia beat Ace Durano with 1.4 million votes to his 341,455 votes. 

This is her second consecutive term after returning as governor in 2019 and fifth term overall. 

The amount of votes she got this time around was much higher than the 887,290 votes she received in 2019.

Durano came out of the private sector to challenge Garcia in this election. His running mate, Hilario “Junjun” Davide III won his reelection bid.

“I am deeply deeply humbled by this outpouring of support and love from the Cebuanos,” Garcia told reporters on the sidelines of the proclamation. 

“We have gone through so much. The story of our saga beats off fiction movies because sometimes reality is stronger than fiction. But we are here because we are bound by what we have been through,” she added.

Garcia said in a separate statement that post-pandemic recovery would be at the top of the agenda in her second term. 

“I have been criss-crossing this province as many times as I could in order to see kung ano ang kailangan nila and in order for people to see me too especially during the pandemic, it was important that I would be seen out there, assessing the situation on the ground and more so giving them hope na things were not as dire as some would wish to project,” Garcia said in a statement.

“I think people will appreciate that I have been with them, day to day, week to week, month to month, even before the official campaign period started,” she added.

Garcia heads the influential local party One Cebu.

The party ealed an alliance with presumptive President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on April 12, which culminated in a massive rally in Cebu City. 

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Cebu delivered over 1.5 million votes for Marcos and at least 1.7 million votes for his running mate, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte.

Gwen’s daughter Christina Frasco, Liloan town mayor, is the spokesperson of Duterte. 

Cebu is the most vote-rich province in the Philippines with 3.2 million votes.

Durano has not yet conceded as of this writing. – Rappler.com