Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has endorsed all 11 senatorial candidates of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas coalition, calling for a unified vote from the province’s more than 3.4 million voters.
Speaking at a rally attended by Marcos in Dumanjug town, Garcia, a dominant political figure in the Visayas region, urged Cebu residents to support the president’s Senate slate.
“This governor will remain steadfast and so will the entire leadership of this entire island in this united One Cebu,” Garcia told the crowd. “We are for unity, we are for progress because we are One Cebu, solid behind the duly elected president of the Republic of the Philippines who knows how to keep his words, who fulfills his promises -- none other than President Ferdinand ‘BBM’ Marcos Jr.”
The Alyansa slate includes former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, Senators Ramon Bong Revilla, Pia Cayetano and Lito Lapid, former Senators Panfilo Lacson, Manny Pacquiao and Vicente Sotto III, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo and Las Piñas City Rep. Camille Villar.
Garcia, who is seeking a third and final term as governor, called on voters to support the Alyansa candidates and urged her constituents to vote straight for the Alyansa slate in the 12 May elections.
Garcia’s endorsement is expected to bolster the coalition’s momentum in Cebu, a vote-rich province that includes the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
The endorsement follows a province-wide campaign tour led by Garcia and One Cebu, the province’s dominant political party, which brought the Alyansa candidates to numerous towns and cities in mid-April.
The Dumanjug rally was the coalition’s final major push in Cebu ahead of the election.