1. Gwendolyn Garcia was the representative of Cebu's 3rd congressional district from 2013 to 2019 and concurrently served as a House Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2018.
24 Facts About Gwendolyn Garcia
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Gwendolyn Garcia is the eldest daughter of former Cebu Governor and House Deputy Speaker Pablo P Garcia and Judge Esperanza "Inday" Fiel Garcia.
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Gwendolyn Garcia's youngest brother, Pablo John Garcia, is a lawyer-congressman.
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Gwendolyn Garcia was previously married to Eufrocino "Winnie" Codilla Jr.
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Gwendolyn Garcia earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines Diliman and studied law at the same university.
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Gwendolyn Garcia was awarded with the honorary degrees of Doctor of Humanities from Cebu Normal University and Doctor of Philosophy in Technology Management from Cebu State College of Science and Technology.
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Gwendolyn Garcia was active in the private sector as chairperson of the Leyte Cooperative Bank from 1996 to 1998.
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Gwendolyn Garcia is, since 1998, the president and CEO of the GGC Group, Inc.
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Gwendolyn Garcia is the head of the Regional Development Council, the Regional Peace and Order Council, and chairman of the Visayas RDCom, the Deputy Secretary General for Visayas of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, chairman of the board of the Mactan Cebu Bridge Management Board, and member of the board of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority.
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Gwendolyn Garcia first entered politics in 2004, when she was elected as governor by 7,000 votes to succeed her father.
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Gwendolyn Garcia is locally dubbed as the "Iron Lady of Cebu" or the "Iron Lady of Southern Philippines" after preserving the territorial integrity of Cebu and putting the province back as the richest province in the country.
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From December 2012 to June 2013, Gwendolyn Garcia was preventively suspended by the Office of the President pending an investigation into a complaint of "grave abuse of authority" filed by Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez.
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Gwendolyn Garcia was elected as the representative of the third congressional district in 2013, over Pinamungahan Mayor Geraldine Yapha.
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On December 19,2012, Gwendolyn Garcia was suspended by the office of the President for 6 months for usurping the appointing power of the office of the vice governor.
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The investigation found that Gwendolyn Garcia committed "grave abuse of authority" by hiring consultants without getting approval from the provincial legislative council, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
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In 2016, Gwendolyn Garcia faced 11 counts of graft for the anomalous construction of the Cebu International Convention Center in 2006.
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In 2012, Gwendolyn Garcia tapped Supreme ABF Construction to supply backfilling materials for the submerged portion of the land for.
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The Ombudsman however found that Gwendolyn Garcia had no authority from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan when she entered into the contract with the firm.
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The CA's reversal of CA allowed Gwendolyn Garcia to run as Governor of Cebu which she won against Agnes Magpale.
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Gwendolyn Garcia issued a memorandum to stop the CBRT construction in heritage buffer zones of the Cebu Provincial Capitol and Fuente Osmena Circle on February 27,2024.
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Gwendolyn Garcia eventually resigned as a member of PDP on May 28,2024.
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On May 18,2020, Gwendolyn Garcia held a briefing with the local press where she usually goes over the latest COVID-19 updates in the province.
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Gwendolyn Garcia began to publicly shame a netizen in retaliation for Facebook comments criticizing and insulting her and her provincial government.
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Gwendolyn Garcia questioned the doctor's qualifications and undermined her years of experience, even telling her to run for office if she was confident about her medical knowledge.