upon the death of gregorio sanchez jr. due to lung cancer on april 29, 2011, she was sworn as vice governor of the province of cebu on may 10, 2011 to serve the remaining unfinished term of sanchez. an electoral protest before the commission on election was ongoing against sanchez filed by businessman glenn soco, so her seat at the sangguniang panlalawigan remained vacant in the case that the protest would be decided in favor of soco. her assumption to the post was by virtue of her being the member of the provincial board who garnered the highest number of votes in the 2010 election.