Gwen on 5th term at the Capitol: Continue road concreting, upgrade healthcare 

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia holds a press conference with Cebu reporters at the Capitol on May 17, 2022. | CDN Digital Photo by Morexette Marie Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is set to enter her fifth term as governor and has bared some of her plans for the province.

These included rolling out more road concreting projects as well as improving the province’s healthcare services.

In a recent press conference, she said her administration aims to finish their road concreting projects, and even expand them. 

“Padayun gihapon atong road concreting projects with less than 100 kilometers (more to go) for our provincial roads and barangay roads,” said Garcia. 

The governor also promised to upgrade province-owned hospitals by providing additional beds, healthcare workers, and medical equipment. 

Garcia announced that the Capitol has two pending applications before the Department of Health (DOH) to upgrade the Cebu Provincial Hospitals in the cities of Danao and Bogo.

“We already have pending applications before the DOH… This will allow us to put in more specialists, and doctors, and we can now increase our bed capacity, doctors, and upgraded medical equipment will be made available to our hospitals,” she said. 

1.4M strong

In the meantime, Garcia thanked the Cebuanos for giving her a fresh mandate in leading the province, especially following the twin crises brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and Typhoon Odette.

“Over 1.4 million Cebuanos gave their vote of confidence, agreeing with the policies that have laid down during the pandemic even though they were a few critics that seem to dominate social media,” said Garcia. 

“But after all, the silent huge majority of Cebuanos agreed on how we handled the pandemic. And Typhoon Odette happened. Then again, a huge silent majority agreed on how we had faced myriad challenges,” she added. 

It can be recalled that Garcia was the subject of several criticisms and backlash in 2020 over her response towards the COVID-19.

In particular, how she publicly berated two doctors who criticized her for advocating tuob (steam inhalation in English). 

Garcia garnered a ‘historic’ 1.4 million votes during the May 9 polls. She led the gubernatorial race over her opponent, former Tourism Sec. Ace Durano, with a margin of over 1.1 million votes.

/bmjo

RELATED STORIES:

Gwen proclaimed governor with ‘historic’ 1.4M votes

Gwen, Junjun lead in partial and unofficial tally in Cebu