2016 polls: 6 Garcias to vie for elective posts

CEBU, Philippines - Will Cebuanos continue to be supportive of political dynasties? The results of the upcoming 2016 elections will show the answer.

For 18 years, the Garcia family held on to power at the Capitol starting with the family’s patriarch, Pablo Garcia, who completed three terms or nine years.

He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Gwen who also completed another three terms. Gwen is now the incumbent representative of the third district in the House of Representatives.

In the polls next year, six members of the Garcia family will run for several elective posts in Cebu. This was revealed during the general assembly of the Garcia family- led One Cebu Party founded by Gwen in 2005.

In the May 2016 general elections, the family’s first candidate is former Government Service Insurance System president Winston Garcia who will be running against incumbent Governor Hilario Davide III.

 The eldest among Garcia siblings, Gwen, will be seeking for another term in the House of Representatives. She will be up against Board Member Gigi Sanchez who was instrumental in pursuing a case that led to Gwen’s suspension from office during her last term as Governor in 2012.

 The youngest among the siblings, lawyer Pablo John, a former congressman himself, will be running in the newly-created seventh district. His opponent will be Board Member Peter John Calderon, a former Garcia ally in the One Cebu Party who jumped ship to the Liberal Party.

Two other brothers will run for mayor in the southern towns of Cebu.

Former Barili Vice Mayor Marlon Garcia will be running against incumbent Mayor Teresito Mariñas while Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia will seek for another term in office. Nelson’s incumbent Vice Mayor Guntrano Gica Jr. will challenge Nelson’s reelection bid.

 The latest addition to the political lineup of the Garcias will be Gwen’s daughter, lawyer Cristina Garcia-Frasco, who will be running for mayor of Liloan. Her husband, incumbent Mayor Duke Frasco, on the other hand, will be her vice mayor.

Several proposals have been floated in Congress against political dynasties in the country but none has prospered so far into becoming a law.

The Garcia family is scheduled to file their Certificates of Candidacy on October 15. — (FREEMAN)