[] It would seem so. Cebu has few or none of the politicians of "national stature" who can land in the 12-to-20 top spots of credible surveys. In one such survey last February 2026, no Cebuano landed in the list.
HAS Cebu run out of qualified and winnable candidates for senator in the next election? So that a non-Cebuano might run, using the Cebu banner, perchance to win and become its voice in the Senate?
The question pops up anew since the publicized plan of Rowena Guanzon -- former commissioner of Comelec and COA -- to run in 2028 representing Cebu.
Guanzon "officially" announced her "intention to run" for senator during the launch of the "Cebu Alliance for Duterte 2028" last March 14, 2026.
She said she will focus on "restoring Visayan representation" in the Senate and "will fight for the Visayas" under the Sara Duterte party.
Accurate enough, as she is a Bisaya and can rightfully stand and fight in the Senate for the region.
RECLAIMING CEBU'S SEAT. But Guanzon also told the Cebu City audience, "We will reclaim our seat in the Senate."
What or whose seat? Apparently, she was referring to at least one seat a Cebuano had held for decades and Sergio "Serge" Osmeña III vacated when he completed his third term in the Senate 10 years ago.
Since 2016, Cebu has had zero representation. That spans four successive Congresses, from 17th Congress up to the current 20th Congress.
No Cebuano senator for 10 straight years already. Not counting the three years of the 14th Congress, 2017-2010, when Serge Osmeña skipped reelection because of term limit and no other Cebuano ran.
SERGE IS THE LAST? Serge Osmeña served three terms, from 1995 to 2007, then 2010 to 2016, or a total of 18 years. He lost two subsequent attempts to return to the Senate: in 2016 and 2019 elections.
There had always been a Cebuano in the upper assembly of Congress. From the time senators were elected by districts (1916-1946), to the time of the Republic (1946-1973), then after the unicameral Congress during martial law ceased (1987-2016).
Cebu had two senators for many years, at least one in some years, even three in two Senate terms. Remember the threesomes of Serging Osmeña, Sonny Osmeña and Rene Espina in 1970-1973 and of Marcelo Fernan, Ernesto Herrera and Serge Osmeña in 1995-1998?
RELATED: Seares: No senator from Cebu, SunStar, Aug. 15, 2024.
WHERE HAVE CEBU'S BRIGHTEST STARS GONE, the kind that used to win handily Senate seats to serve the national interest even as they reaped honor for their native province?
They're gone to rest, to be sure, yet we must wonder why in the last decade, Cebu has not produced a single new senator. Those who tried to become senator floundered on the national stage or struck out in the popularity surveys.
To think that other provinces and cities, regions send two, even from the same families, to the Senate?
Cebu with its five million votes and economic and social clout could not produce one senator, at least not in the last four Congresses.
WOULD A SENATOR GUANZON MAKE US CONTENT? Her being a native of Negros would provide pleasant but small consolation to Cebuanos.
She is not Cebuano. Not born, raised, or educated in Cebu.
Maria Rowena Amelia "Bing" Villena Guanzon was born in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, served as its mayor until 1992. Took elementary studies in Cadiz, high school at Silliman University and finished her law at U.P. Diliman and master's degree in public administration at Harvard.
"NOMINAL CEBUANO" One may even have Cebuano origin in blood and yet not be popularly considered a true Cebuano.
A case in point is that of Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, who had Cebuanos for parent and grandparent (the "lolo" is Vicente Sotto no less). Tito Sen was born, raised and educated in Manila and -- more significant and telling -- he had not impressed Cebuanos as one of them.
Opinion columnists like Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez of The Freeman have not included Tito Sotto, multiple-term senator and currently Senate President again, in their count of Cebuanos in the Senate.
The late columnist Jerry Tundag, also of The Freeman, had a name for it, "nominal Cebuano," after Serge Osmeña lost in his two attempts to return to the Senate.
That appears to be the standard: To be a Cebuano, one must not only be born and raised and educated in Cebu but, more importantly, must be seen to be with them and act as one of them.
Guanzon can hardly qualify as one by mere declaration of affinity as a Visayan.