‘Bakit natalo si Gwen?’
Mix of factors. The question asked in Cebuano-Bisaya across the island of Cebu was thus repeated in the rest of the country as national media assessed May 12, 2025 election results.
It was a mix of factors, as Gov.-elect Pamela Baricuatro said in a national television interview after she was proclaimed the winner.
The people’s dissatisfaction with health services despite the Provincial Government’s avowed wealth. The agitation for change. And the Duterte arrest and transport to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity at The Hague in the Netherlands.
Others tossed into the “halo-halo” of reasons: “Arrogance” of the Capitol administration which SunStar editorially said was beaten by the challenger’s “authenticity.”
A “newbie,” a “David” beating Goliath. And a case of sophisticated, well-honed political machinery malfunctioning. That, plus some hubris.
SunStar in a post-election editorial noted that Governor Garcia won only 39 percent, as against Pam Baricuatro’s 61 percent, of the vote, crushing into pieces the Garcia camp’s forecast of 98 percent Gwen against two percent Pam.
Pam herself couldn’t believe the result. She didn’t expect to win, she told the Manila interviewer, prompting the question, Then why did you run?
She didn’t adequately answer that. Earlier, in a column during the campaign homestrech, News+One in SunStar theorized Pam was “merely enjoying the ride, the adventure while Gwen was campaigning as if it were a close fight” just to protect, if not increase, her million-plus lead in 2022 over Ace Durano and thus boost her political clout and terminator image.
Emotional factor. Many attribute the Duterte endorsement of Baricuatro as reason for her win, a triumph that resulted, the SunStar editorial said, in “the dismantling of a dynasty.”
The credit to the Duterte effect may not fully stand, given the fact that other prominent Cebu politicos endorsed by the former president lost: more notably, Mike Rama, Jonas Cortes and Paz Radaza, former mayors of Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City.
Also beyond measurement is voters’ “dislike of the arrogance,” which purportedly caused the backlash against Gwen and shift to Pam. When did the tides change? Just one election ago, in 2022, Gwen buried a Durano in a landslide victory.
AFTER PAM BARICUATRO WON AGAINST ALL ODDS, she faces the much-tougher goal: with her inexperience and lack of political savvy, now she must do better as governor to prove the vote wasn’t a big mistake.
The governor-elect has to keep her major election promises. She can’t use her being new and inexperienced in governance as excuse for failure or falling short.