Dr. Rowena Burden with her legal team headed by Lawyer Inocencio Dela Cerna (leftmost) and his associates during a press conference on Thursday, September 28. | CDN Photo/Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Dr. Rowena Burden announced on Thursday, September 28, her intention to run for Cebu governor in the 2025 polls.
Dr. Burden said on Thursday during a press conference that a group of businessmen had asked her to run for the position in 2022 against Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia because she constantly called the governor out online.
However, she told the group that she had no interest in the governorship because she could “get a president elected,” hence, she turned down the offer.
“Since 2020, I’ve been contacted by a lot of constituents from the province for a host of problems [such as] health care, business, whatever. I am the sumbongan ng bayan,” she said.
When asked what made her decide to run for the position, she said it would primarily be because of the poor health care system in the province, also noting that it is also “a matter of life and death” for the constituents of Garcia.
“In 2019, the first thing that she did when she went inside the Capitol was to fire all the medical personnel,” she said.
“She fired all the doctors because she wanted it as an agency basis, contractual,” she added.
Burden was referring to Capitol’s move to outsource medical and non-medical personnel in 2019 from manpower agencies.
READ: Davide ‘uncomfortable’ with Capitol’s move to outsource medical personnel
“Then the pandemic happened in 2020. You fired everybody across the board? Carcar Provincial Hospital was already doing dialysis. What happened? They didn’t have enough cotton. They did not have enough gloves,” she expressed.
Burden said she treated thousands of the governor’s constituents and sent them medical supplies such as cotton, gloves, masks, and oxygen tanks.
Moreover, she said running as a governor is a “step down” for her because she is a “master strategist.”
“Being governor is not something that is actually an ambition for me. It’s local. Its scope of power is limited but I have to do it,” she said.
She also said that it went to a point when she had no sleep for three days, and amidst the Delta surge, she found it “surreal” that Garcia’s constituents asked her where to bury the victims’ dead bodies.
Furthermore, among the things that Burden also mentioned that made her counter against Garcia was the latter’s actions during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when the governor encouraged the Capitol employees to practice “tuob.”
READ: Capitol memos employees to ‘strictly’ practice tuob
READ: PH’s largest medical society denounces Gwen on tuob, calling out doctors
She also mentioned the things that she would offer to the Cebuanos
“I’ve been offering a lot for Cebuanos. I ran the longest privately funded Yolanda relief. I ran the longest privately funded Bohol earthquake relief. Every day, I did more for Filipinos than any politician has ever done,” she said.
No publicity volunteer work
Burden added she never put her name in all the relief goods she and her team distributed.
“If you’re asking me what I can offer? It’s not an offer. I’ve been doing it for years, for decades. Whether it’s food, medical,” she said.
She added she even treated 15,000 COVID-19 patients. And when “billionaires” offered her money, she channeled it for medical supplies.
When asked what the things she would not do when elected, Burden named a few: she will not abuse power, she will not shame people publicly, and wear luxury goods using public money.
“I can assure you [that] not a single centavo of public funds if I get elected, will ever go into my own wallet. I’ve proven myself for decades,” Burden stressed.
Full slate in 2025
Burden said that in the coming elections, they will run in a full slate.
“We’re going to endorse 12 senators, we’re going to endorse three tri-city mayors, component cities, municipal mayors, and all the district representatives to the lower house,” she said.
As for the final details of the politicians who will be running under her party as well as the details of the partylist, Burden said she is yet to make an announcement about it.
She also has yet to disclose who will run as her vice-governor.
When CDN Digital reached out to Gov. Gwen Garcia last night for her reaction, the Governor merely said “No comment.” /rcg
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