Pam Baricuatro (center). Photo from Baricuatro's Facebook page

MANILA — The people of Cebu have had enough and want change, Cebu Governor-elect Pam Baricuatro said Thursday, days after she pulled off a massive surprise lead in the province's gubernatorial race.

Baricuatro, who received the support of former President Rodrigo Duterte and ran under his PDP-Laban party, said she wanted a leadership that would empower citizens and "not overpower."

"Cebuanos probably [have] had too much of that," she said.

Baricuatro garnered 1,092,525 votes based on partial, unofficial results as of May 15, 2025, beating reelectionist governor Gwen Garcia, who got 750,102 votes.

Baricuatro leads Cebu gubernatorial race

Baricuatro's win ends the decades-long grip of the Garcia clan on Cebu province's political landscape.

"It was a series of Divine intervention and miracles throughout the campaign," she said of her victory.

The governor-elect said she would order audits in the Cebu capitol and its municipalities "for the sake of transparency and accountability"

"Before I would get into the capitol, I would know what I have and what I can work on," she said.

Baricuatro is a political science graduate from the University of San Carlos. 

She worked as a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific Airways, "which has exposed me to a vast variety of countries, its management styles, and way of living," she said in a Facebook post last year.

She also founded and led SimplyShare Foundation, which fed over a million Cebuano children "through community and school-based programs and especially during the pandemic, and responded to multiple local calamities."

From 2020 to 2024, she served as a national board director of LBP Resources and Development Corporation, a Landbank subsidiary.