[] Why the “over-drive” in the campaign sorties and the vigorous pitch most people didn’t see and hear in the last preceding election? A Cebu columnist of a Manila-based news outlet asked: Is Governor Gwen afraid of governor-wannabe Pam?
[] Maybe neither one is afraid of the other. Both Garcia and Baricuatro must know their respective chances. Gwen, a veteran winner of five elections in Cebu Province, must be confident she’d take the sixth too.
[] Pam, aware that she has a lot less than what Ace Durano had in the last local election, must recognize an even slimmer chance of scoring an upset. But each must have a reason to behave in the campaign as if she were fighting for her political life.
THE takeaways from this facet of the campaign, as to which woman candidate is afraid of her rival:
[1] WHAT THE PUBLIC SEES: LOTS OF GRIT, INTENSITY FROM EACH CAMP. A few weeks after the filing of candidate’s certificates of candidacies (COCs) early October last year, Pamela “Pam” Baricuatro answered how she felt running against reelectionist Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
“Nothing to be fearful about. Dapat siya ang mahadlok nako, dili ako ang mahadlok niya,” she replied to a question raised by a reporter on November 5, 2024 in the Aegean Room of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.
That alone was clear, crystal. And straight, as an arrow. Yet Baricuatro said more, as if her point still needed reinforcing. She said she was “unfazed” and was “ready to go toe-to-toe” with the incumbent. The “toe-to-toe” thing means “willingness or ability to fight with someone in a strong, forceful, determined way.” More about grit than actual strength.
Brave words, which intensified and flew more frequently as local politics heated and her adversary, with the combined arsenal of Capitol’s and the One Cebu media forces zeroed in on and pounded on Baricuatro.
Going into the campaign period, would-be voters see much of Guv Gwen making a hard-sell pitch as if it were a close fight when most watchers of local politics see an easy win for the incumbent.
[2] FROM GET-GO, PAM DEPICTS HERSELF AS UNDERDOG, WHICH SHE IS. As candidate of PDP-Laban, Pam Baricuatro appears puny against Gwen Garcia’s One Cebu Party, which has the support of all political forces in the province, except the the Durano clan in the north. Last October 11 (2024), Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III announced at a press-con the clan’s support to Pam.
Unavoidable context to the Garcia political apparatus and Durano’s support to Baricuatro: (a) Gwen enjoys the support of almost every political leader running a city or town in the province; (b) The sole exception is the Durano clan’s support to Pam. In terms of actual votes, Garcia battled with Joseph Felix Mari “Ace” Durano in the immediately preceding, 2022, election, and crushed him with a 1.36 million-vote, or 61.14 percent, majority. Could Pam do better than Ace?
[3] COULD BE THE REASON PAM’S NOT AFRAID OF GWEN. In her social media posts, Baricuatro has been harping on being the small-time aspirant, hounded by missile attacks on various facets of her life, from looks to charity work and ownership of the ancestral house in their hometown.
If that’s complaining, it doesn’t sound a gripe of actual pain. That kind of attack might get her votes, for one thing. Besides, Pam might even be enjoying the ride, which comes from being on the same stage where the most-powerful woman politician in Cebu performs, at least during the campaign period.
Which somehow supports the suspicion that the reason Pam doesn’t dread fighting against a behemoth of a politician that’s Gwen is that she’s not pinning her life on the election outcome. Pam must know she’s in for a drubbing and is ready for it. Meantime, she gets half or more of the exposure being given to the woman governor. How else could a former flight stewardess dabbling in charity draw such attention?
[4] GWEN MAY NOT BE ACTUALLY AFRAID. SHE MAY BE ONLY BEHAVING AS IF SHE WERE. The way the governor has been making the pitch for the vote -- which ranges from the basic appeal for the vote, to self-deprecation over politician’s wiles, to what sounds like almost begging -- prompted some people to ask: Why the intensity and the hard-sell? Is Pam any closer on Gwen’s heel? “Very, very” unlikely, the way former Cebu City mayor Mike Rama would use the multiple adverb.
A plausible reason is that Guv Gwen would like to increase her lead over her rival in this election. The achiever in Gwen would want to protect if not break that record. The few mean bones in her body might like to see Baricuatro beaten to a pulp: Ace was much a gentleman campaigner in 2022 as Baricuatro was not or could not be a lady campaigner in 2025.
[5] ARE ISSUES MAGNIFIED BY THE HEAT? OR IS IT JUST SOCIAL MEDIA? It could be that the more extensive use of social media in displaying propaganda shows more the emotion behind each pitch. The deluge of posts in social media didn’t happen in the last campaign, not with the same frequency and bluntness and directness.
In the current exchange between the rivals, short messages culled from Guv Gwen’s pronouncements on the campaign road gather strength and pack more wallop on internet video.
Often, stripped of context and background, minus the padding of charity or courtesy to the rival, the sound bite packs more wallop or unleashes more feeling than if one heard it in full at the rally or “pulong-pulong.” Close-ups of the speaker hint of some kind of dopamine set off by the speech: the feeling of “pleasure, satisfaction and motivation.”
This is not to say that the issues picked by Pam Baricuatro are “softies.”
Alleged poverty amid Cebu Province’s massive wealth and alleged corruption and lack of transparency are stinging accusations the governor couldn’t allow to air unanswered.
[6] DEBATE BENEFITS PUBLIC BUT ISSUES ARE HARDLY JOINED. One side is not seen or heard at the same time. Often the listener sees or hears only the accusation or only the answer, seldom both in the same news feed. Yet audiences get to see or hear more about the candidate, though only in the light and with the filter each camp wants on its message.
Gwen may say about “love not being forever except…” -- guess what -- her love for the voters of, say, Toledo City. In the same scroll, one sees
Pam dancing, which may invite an adverse comment, usually from blogger Byron Garcia, Gwen’s brother, about Pam’s abundance/excess in weight.
Not the kind an IBP-sponsored debate may enlighten the electorate, but it’s what the candidates offer and what the would-be voters get.
[7] IMPONDERABLE DUTERTE FACTOR. The first major issue that Guv Gwen Garcia in her current propaganda blitz in the internet prominently tackled was the still-ongoing furor over the arrest and transfer of former president Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague and how much it would influence the mid-term elections.
Would it affect the vote so much that it would set off an upset in the governor’s race? So unthinkable and yet possible. It would be possible, yes, but then, in the language of the sitcom “Friends,” not “so” possible.