CEBU CITY — It’s official. Former Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and Cebu Vice Governor Hilario “Junjun” Davide III will be running mates when they gun for the two highest positions in Cebu province in next year’s elections.
In separate statements released to the media on Thursday, Durano confirmed that he will run for governor while Davide will seek reelection.
Durano will go up against incumbent Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who has already announced her reelection bid though she had yet to reveal her running mate.
As relayed by a reliable source, the Durano-Davide tandem has been reported by Manila Bulletin even before the official announcement.
"It took time for me to decide because in reality, I have retired from politics and I’m already okay with my private life together with my family. But considering the current situation of the province due to COVID, if we remain to address it the way we are currently doing so, then this pandemic would affect us for a much-prolonged time," Durano said in mixed Cebuano and English.
"It means it will take more time that we can be together with our families. It will take more time that we can visit more places and sadly, we will be scared for a longer time that we may lose another loved one due to COVID,” added Durano.
Durano has been meeting with sectoral leaders from all over the province the past few months to listen to their concerns.
Sectoral leaders from the Urban Poor, Youth, Women’s, Health Workers, Transport, LGBTQ, as well as NGO leaders came together last September 28 to pledge their support to the Durano-Davide tandem.
For his part, Davide said Durano has what it takes to become a good governor.
Davide had hinted that this would be his last term but he decided to seek another term because after finding “an ideal running mate with their same brand of leadership and priority programs.”
“I’ve known Ace for a long time. Ace is a very good person, sincere, humble, calm and very deserving to become a leader of the Cebuanos. His track record as representative of the 5th district and tourism secretary speaks for itself,” said Davide.
Davide served as governor for two terms from 2013 to 2019.