Political democracy is back in Cebu Province as the "Save Cebu Movement" was launched on Friday that will focus on feeding starving Cebuanos.
This comes as Dr. Rowena Burden — a known philanthropist and political strategist — disclosed that she will challenge incumbent Governor Gwendolyn Garcia in the 2025 gubernatorial race.
Burden stressed that the healthcare system of the province is so minimal that until now availability of "cottons" and medicines are needed by patients in district and provincial hospitals.
"Since 2022, I've been contacted by a lot of constituents from the province for a host of problems such as health care, business, whatever, I am the sumbungan ng bayan," Burden said.
She also revealed that a group of businessmen had asked her to run for the position in 2022 against Garcia as she constantly called the governor out online. But Burden then told the group that she had no interest in the governorship and turned down the offer.
"Being governor is not something that is actually an ambition for me. It's local. Its scope of power is limited but I have to do it," Burden said.
"I've been offering a lot of Cebuanos. I ran the longest privately funded Yolanda relief. I ran the longest privately funded Bohol earthquake relief. Every day, I did more for Filipinos than any politician has ever done," she added.
Save Cebu Movement Coordinator Pamela Baricuatro, on the other hand, disclosed that while the province has been bragging on being the "richest" province, it has the highest poverty incidence in the country.
The land properties of the province were pegged at P166 billion in 2022 and the Commission on Audit declared Cebu province as the richest in the country.
"The province of Cebu tops the list of provinces with the highest magnitude of poor households," Baricuatro said.
