WHY I RARELY WRITE ABOUT ROWENA GUANZON

An MCT follower recently asked me why I have hardly written about Rowena Guanzon. The person wanted to know what I think of her, especially with all the noise and fanfare she has been making for the Dutertes.

The question was fair. Guanzon is not exactly difficult to notice. She has been in government, she knows how to get attention, and she has become increasingly visible around Sara Duterte and the politics surrounding 2028.

The truth is, I have written about her before. This was when MCT was still new and I was still getting a feel for what I wanted it to become.

Back then, I had a series called PROFILES, where I wrote about public personalities, their careers and backgrounds. Guanzon was one of them, and after that biographical piece, she mostly disappeared from MCT.

I wasn't avoiding her. I rarely found what she was doing interesting enough to spend hours researching and writing about it.

THE CAREER BEFORE THE BARDAGULAN

Guanzon came into public view with substantial government and academic credentials. She had been mayor of Cadiz City, served as a commissioner of the Commission on Audit, spent seven years as a commissioner of the Commission on Elections, studied law at UP, earned a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and taught law.

That background is worth remembering because the Guanzon many Filipinos encounter today is often associated with political combat and social media bardagulan. Her combative style also did not begin when she started supporting Sara Duterte.

In January 2022, while still a COMELEC commissioner, Guanzon publicly challenged Partido Federal ng Pilipinas lawyer George Briones to a fistfight during their dispute over the Bongbong Marcos disqualification case. After retiring from COMELEC, she became so closely associated with online bardagulan that she even used “Queen of Bardagulan” in her Facebook bio.

Her politics at the time were very different from where they are now. She openly supported Leni Robredo in 2022, and some people who opposed Marcos enjoyed Guanzon's confrontational style.

I didn't find the bardagulan especially informative then, and I don't find it informative now. Political alignment does not change that standard for me.

WHEN THE INSULTS BECOME THE CONTENT

Calling Guanzon merely loud leaves out part of her public behavior. Some of her confrontations have moved from political argument into direct personal insult.

The December 2025 Power Plant Mall incident is one example. Guanzon said the man involved had humiliated and insulted her first, and she later filed complaints for unjust vexation and grave oral defamation.

The widely circulated video also showed Guanzon berating the couple, calling the man “stupid” and “ignoramus,” and invoking Rolex and Gucci during the confrontation. When former presidential adviser Ronald Llamas later mocked the Rolex and Gucci episode, Guanzon responded by attacking his appearance.

Those exchanges help explain why so much of the attention around Guanzon has felt like political noise to me. I don't find personal insults impressive, and I don't confuse them with wit or political substance.

THE P3PWD EPISODE IS DIFFERENT

The P3PWD case is more substantial because it involved an attempt to enter Congress and eventually produced a Supreme Court ruling.

P3PWD won one party-list seat in the 2022 elections. Its original nominees later withdrew, Guanzon became the first substitute nominee, and COMELEC approved the substitution.

The Supreme Court later voided COMELEC's approval of the post-election substitutions, including Guanzon's. The Court ruled that COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in approving the substitutions under the circumstances of the case.

There is an important qualification. The Supreme Court dismissed the contempt charge accusing Guanzon of violating the temporary restraining order because the TRO was directed at COMELEC and the House of Representatives, not at Guanzon personally.

The Court nevertheless addressed her continued public claim that she was a congresswoman after she knew about the TRO. In its decision, the Court said that by claiming to be a congresswoman despite knowing the TRO restrained her substitution, she “disseminated a false claim and committed an act of disinformation.”

For me, that is far more relevant than another round of social media fighting. It involves an official process, a Supreme Court decision and the conduct of someone who now wants to seek national office.

FROM KAKAMPINK TO SARA DUTERTE

Guanzon openly supported Leni Robredo in 2022. As late as July 2025, she was still publicly rejecting the DDS label and saying, “Hindi po ako DDS. Kakampink po ako.”

By March 2026, her political direction had changed. She accepted the endorsement of the Cebu Alliance for Duterte 2028 for a possible Senate run and publicly committed herself to campaigning for Sara Duterte for president in 2028.

Guanzon has explained her support in terms of corruption and accountability. She has said she believes Sara Duterte would hold corrupt officials accountable and has spoken about zero tolerance for corruption.

That explanation belongs here because there is no need to guess at her motives. What can be documented is that Guanzon went from publicly identifying herself as Kakampink in July 2025 to openly campaigning for Sara Duterte and later saying she hoped to be included in Duterte's 2028 Senate slate.

People can make their own judgment from that progression.

MOSTLY NOISE, LARGELY INSIGNIFICANT

I should probably explain that Guanzon is not alone in this category for me. I have roughly the same reaction to people like Harry Roque, Salvador Panelo, Vic Rodriguez, Israelito Torreon, Jimmy Bondoc, Ferdinand Topacio and a few others.

I know who they are. I see the statements, interviews, arguments and political appearances, but I rarely find every new provocation worth turning into an MCT article.

Most of it, to me, is noise. Much of that noise is largely insignificant compared with the government records, court decisions, audit findings, legislation, public spending and official acts competing for the same amount of my time.

That has largely been my attitude toward Guanzon. I know she is there and I see what she says. Volume alone has never been enough to make me interested.

SHE WANTS TO BE A SENATOR

This is where I have a reason to pay closer attention.

Guanzon has said she intends to seek a Senate seat in 2028, and by August 2026 she was saying she hoped Sara Duterte would include her in her senatorial slate. She has also begun talking about what she wants to do if elected.

Among the proposals she has raised are reviewing the 12 percent VAT, reducing or removing VAT on medicines for vulnerable sectors, reviewing compulsory PhilHealth contributions for OFWs who already have employer-provided health insurance, improving health benefits for poor patients and persons with disabilities, and increasing Visayan representation.

Those proposals deserve to be assessed on their own terms. A Senate candidacy also puts a candidate's public record, conduct and political alliances before voters because the office carries substantial national authority.

There are only 24 senators. They legislate, act on the national budget, can conduct inquiries in aid of legislation, and the Senate has the sole constitutional power to try and decide impeachment cases.

There is also the political composition of the chamber Guanzon wants to join. In July 2025, Ronald dela Rosa publicly identified a seven-member Duterte bloc he called the “Duter7”: himself, Bong Go, Robin Padilla, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Mark Villar and Camille Villar.

That was the bloc Dela Rosa identified at that point in 2025, and Senate alliances can change. Guanzon's own position is easier to state: she supports Sara Duterte for president and has said she hopes to be included in Duterte's Senate slate.

For someone seeking a Senate seat, the public record deserves more attention than the latest insult or online fight. Guanzon's résumé, the P3PWD episode, her political alliances, policy proposals and public behavior are all available for voters to assess.

WHY I RARELY WRITE ABOUT HER

So I finally have a better answer for the person who asked why MCT rarely writes about Rowena Guanzon. For years, I saw the bardagulan, the insults, the political fights and eventually her turn toward Sara Duterte, but none of it gave me much reason to write about her.

Her Senate ambition changes that. Once someone asks Filipinos for one of only 24 seats in the Senate, I become interested in the record behind the noise.

She is interesting, but interesting is never enough.