Olongapo SubicBay BatangGapo Newscenter

Monday, December 24, 2007

Gordon-Garcia tandem for 2010 polls shaping up

CEBU CITY -- Political observers here have started talking about a possible presidential tandem of Senator Richard Gordon and Governor Gwen Garcia for the 2010 elections following the visit here on Dec. 15 of Sen. Gordon.

At the launching here of the vessel, Wonderful Star, during which Gordon was the guest speaker, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia praised the senator for “his sincerity, his passion, his competence that marks him as truly one deserving to lead our country.”

Noting that Gordon is a “presidentiable,” who is often mentioned as a leading presidential candidate in 2010, Ms Garcia spoke of “GG for Good Governance -- Gordon and Gwen”.

This led political strategists here to speak of a possible and potent presidential ticket of Senator Gordon for president and Governor Garcia for vice president, inasmuch as Gordon comes from Luzon, while Garcia is based in Cebu, the biggest voting bloc in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Traditionally candidates for president and vice president are selected for their regional bases in Luzon, Visayas and Minandao. When the president comes from Luzon, the vice president is selected from either the Visayas or Mindanao, and vice versa,” said the political analysts.

It was in Cebu where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo obtained a one million vote margin over her rival in the 2007 election, assuring her election to the presidency in her own right.

The lady governor said that the President’s decision to take her presidential oath of office in Cebu placed it on the national limelight as a province that has achieved economic progress “unprecedented in the history of our country.”

And just as important, according to her, is that Cebu achieved its high economic growth without going into debt. However, Ms Garcia said, “We have our responsibility to our country.

And as Cebu no leads all other provinces, and as Cebu is now showing everyone else that indeed it can be done with ‘‘GG -- Good Governance -- Gordon and Gwen.”

The statement was met with wild applause from the audience.

Gwen recalled that “way back, when Gordon was still mayor of Olongapo, whenever I will get a chance to listen to him on television, I will forget everything else because just listening to him truly inspires us to work and go to great lengths for the good of our country.”

She thanked the senator for his “passionate words and inspiring words about Cebu and the Philippines.”

In his speech, Senator Gordon lauded the leadership of Governor and the Garcia clan in promoting the industrial and economic growth of Cebu, which could be the model of economic progress for the entire Philippines.

He compared the entrepreneurship of the Cebuanos to the spirit of Lapu-Lapu who successfully repulsed the first venture of Spanish conquest of the Philippines.

He mentioned that “presidentiables nowadays want to get Gwen Garcia as their vice president.” He added that while he is not one of those presidentiables, he said, that ‘it could be G-G for Gwen Garcia or Gordon-Garcia or Gwen-Gordon of what anyone could call Good Governance.”
This exchange of observations between the senator and the lady governor got tongues wagging for a possible powerful team for the presidency and the vice presidency in the 2010 elections. Journal.com


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Gordon-Garcia tandem floated for 2010 polls


By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sen. Richard Gordon and Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia have stoked rumors of a potential administration-backed tandem in the 2010 polls after both politicians flirted with the idea of running together during a meeting in vote-rich Cebu province more than a week ago.

Gordon has been tagged as one of the candidates being considered by the administration for presidential candidate for 2010. Garcia, a member of the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi) political party of President Macapagal-Arroyo, has been floated as a potential candidate for vice president or senator.

Gordon, the loquacious former mayor of Olongapo City, visited Cebu on Dec. 15 as guest speaker during the launching of the Wonderful Star roll-on, roll-off vessel owned by Roble Shipping in what some quarters saw as a launching of his presidential bid and probable running mate.

The administration has no definite candidates yet who may succeed Ms Arroyo, whose term ends in less than three years.

In a statement released by Gordon’s office, Garcia, in her speech, praised the senator for “his sincerity, his passion, his competence that marks him as truly one deserving to lead our country.”

She cited Gordon as a “presidentiable” and spoke of a “GG” partnership which, she said, stood for “Good Governance—Gordon and Gwen.”

“We have our responsibility to our country. And as Cebu now leads all other provinces, and as Cebu is now showing everyone else that indeed it can be done with ‘GG’—Good Governance—Gordon and Gwen,” said Garcia.

The governor also revealed that she had been a fan of Gordon’s forceful public speeches.

“Way back, when Gordon was still mayor of Olongapo, whenever I will get a chance to listen to him on television, I will forget everything else because just listening to him truly inspires us to work and go to great lengths for the good of our country,” she said.

In response, Gordon said “GG” could stand for “Gwen Garcia or Gordon-Garcia or Gwen-Gordon or what anyone could call Good Governance.”

The senator said Garcia herself had been wooed by potential presidential candidates as a running mate, largely because of how she had transformed Cebu into a dynamic province.

The Garcia family has been credited for delivering to the President the decisive votes in her reelection in 2004 in a landslide victory in Cebu.

Gordon said the province could be the model of economic progress for the entire Philippines as he compared its entrepreneurial drive “to the spirit of Lapu-Lapu who successfully repulsed the first venture of Spanish conquest of the Philippines.”

The pairing conforms to the tradition of selecting candidates for president and vice president from either Luzon or Visayas-Mindanao in order to cover a broader voting mass.

Although both politicians are off the radar insofar as the top presidential and vice presidential candidates are concerned, pundits believe that having four or five bets fighting for one post can give the edge to candidates backed by the administration since 25 percent of the votes is enough to win it all.

The administration is currently playing catch-up in the preparation for the 2010 elections.

Opposition candidates, mostly from the Senate, have dominated the popularity polls. They include Senate President Manny Villar, Senators Manuel Roxas II, Panfilo Lacson and Loren Legarda.

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