Pablo John “PJ” Garcia is a bar topnotcher who was voted to Congress by the third district of Cebu four times. He would have easily won a fifth term in 2025 but he withdrew from the race for unstated reasons and was substituted by his wife, Karen, the current representative.
PJ’s family is political royalty in Cebu. Between them, his father Pablo, and elder sister Gwendolyn, served as provincial governor for more than two decades. Many other family members continue to hold elective public office.
Some people may be inclined to talk of that hegemony in the past tense, given the thorough drubbing Gwendolyn suffered at the hands of political neophyte Pam Baricuatro in their gubernatorial contest last year.
Any would-be rival who agrees with that view does so at his own peril. It is a grave mistake to dismiss the Garcias as has beens. Almost a quarter of a century of lording it over Cebu does not melt to insignificance in one election cycle, a horrific loss notwithstanding.
The Garcias will try a comeback in 2028, that’s for sure. But who will lead the charge? Gwendolyn? She has been mum about her political plans. Does she want to be queen again or will she choose to be a kingmaker?
Her son-in-law Duke Frasco? Daughter Cristina? Or can they agree on a family outsider like Sonny Lagon or Glenn Soco as standard bearer?
Or what about PJ taking a second shot at the Capitol’s top post? (In 2013, he lost to Junjun Davide who enjoyed strong support from a then very popular president. Noynoy Aquino was supposed to have told party leaders during a meeting at a hotel in the Cebu Business Park that he had a list of five or six candidates for governor that he wanted to see win and Junjun was top in that list.)
Gov. Pam Baricuatro will be a firm favorite in 2028 because she has not done poorly at her job and more importantly because she has access to the province’s vast resources. Unlike in 2025, she will no longer be running a cash-starved campaign.
PJ’s friends, however, say that of all the potential challengers, he has the best chance of scoring an upset against Baricuatro. He has so far made the right moves, they add, including his wife’s refusing to sign the impeachment complant against Vice President Sara Duterte.
They claim that the move has endeared him to loyal Duterte supporters in the province, many of whom had gone sour on Baricuatro because of her perceived closeness to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Baricuatro drew and continues to draw her strength from the support of Duterte’s loyal Cebuano followers. If PJ can indeed chip away at that base, we should have a closer and more interesting election for governor in 2028 than we had last year.
But does sister Gwen agree?