CEBU, Philippines – Cebu has a new governor after more than a million residents decided on May 12, the midterm elections, that it was time for a change in leadership.
Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia had lost to Pamela Baricuatro, a rising name in the province’s political hemisphere. She won with 1,107,728 votes against Garcia’s 764,884.
Baricuatro, the local bet of the Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), is the founder of humanitarian organization SimplyShare Foundation and a health care advocate.
In multiple interviews, the governor-elect shared that her top priority is improving the province’s public health care system by allocating more funds for medicine, equipment, and medical staff in Cebu’s hospitals.
Rappler multimedia reporter John Sitchon talks to Baricuatro on her campaign, her understanding of the local support for Duterte, and her plans for a “new Cebu.”
Watch the Rappler Talk interview on Wednesday, May 21, at 6 pm. – Rappler.com