Congresswoman Gwen
Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia, commonly known as Gwen, is the current Representative of the 3rd District of Cebu in the House of Representatives, and a former Governor of the Province of Cebu from 2004 to 2013. She is the first female governor of the Province of Cebu.
Cong. Gwen has dedicated her life in the service of the Province of Cebu. She served as a Consultant for Economic Development in the City Government of Ormoc from 1992 to 1996; Consultant for Financial Affairs in the Office of the Governor of the Province of Cebu from 1995 to 2000; and as a Consultant for Systems, Promotion, and Development in the same office from 2001 to 2004 prior to her being elected as the first female governor of the Province of Cebu. She served as Governor for three terms, from 2004 to 2013, a testament to the Cebuanos' belief in her capacity to lead and to deliver genuine public service.
Cong. Gwen has dedicated her life in the service of the Province of Cebu. She served as a Consultant for Economic Development in the City Government of Ormoc from 1992 to 1996; Consultant for Financial Affairs in the Office of the Governor of the Province of Cebu from 1995 to 2000; and as a Consultant for Systems, Promotion, and Development in the same office from 2001 to 2004 prior to her being elected as the first female governor of the Province of Cebu. She served as Governor for three terms, from 2004 to 2013, a testament to the Cebuanos' belief in her capacity to lead and to deliver genuine public service.
A Life Dedicated
Cong. Gwen was a consistent honor student in elementary and high school at Cebu's St. Theresa's College. She previously earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines Diliman and studied Law at the same university. She was awarded with the honorary degrees of Doctor of Humanities from the Cebu Normal University (CNU) and Doctor of Philosophy in Technology Management from the Cebu State College of Science and Technology (CSCST).
Prior to being elected as governor, she was active in the private sector as chairperson of the Leyte Cooperative Bank from 1996 to 1998. She is, since 1998, the president and CEO of the GGC Group, Inc. She is the head of the Regional Development Council, the Regional Peace and Order Council, and chairman of the Visayas RDCom (comprising RDC 6, RDC 7 and RDC 8), the Deputy Secretary General for Visayas of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), Chairman of the Board of the Mactan Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB), and Member of the Board of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA). |
A Family of Public
Cong. Gwen was born on October 12, 1955. She is the eldest daughter of former Cebu Governor and House Deputy Speaker Pablo P. Garcia and Judge Esperanza “Inday” Fiel-Garcia. Her youngest brother, Pablo John Garcia is a lawyer-congressman. Her brother Byron has been a security consultant for the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), which caught global attention in 2007 for its rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" featuring the its inmates. Her brother Winston is the former General Manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS Philippines).
A Distinct Brand of
During her stint as Governor, Cong. Gwen asserted her own style of effective leadership. She aggressively pursued a 12-point agenda for her administration, implementing economically viable development programs that effectively responded to the needs of the Cebuano constituency – in infrastructure, water, power, health, education, agriculture and food production, women and children, business, tourism and the environment. This later on became her 12-point plus 2 agenda of government, with the inclusion of an enhanced information and communication portfolio that showcase the Province of Cebu and strong international relations aimed at creating beneficial linkages with the global community.
She was the first and only Governor to publicly declare an all out war against communist insurgency, and proceeded to put in place measures to achieve such end, resulting in the declaration of Cebu as an insurgency-free zone. The anti-criminality task forces of the Province bring to justice perpetrators of illegal fishing, those involved in the illegal drug trade and in human trafficking. Cong. Gwen was elected as the representative of the third congressional district on May 13, 2013, over Pinamungahan Mayor Geraldine Yapha. She was the first woman Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of the Province of Cebu. Her election as Congresswoman followed on the heels of a historical three terms as the first woman Governor of the 442-year-old Province of Cebu, a political three-peat, her mandates delivered with solid and unprecedented margins by the Cebuano people. |