Leni
Leni Robredo enjoys a beautiful love affair with the country. She does not need a spin-doctor to perfume her way to the public’s heart. Her heart itself — pure, sincere, honest, earnest — is the perfume that makes her fragrant to the public.
Her simple ways and sincere heart have aided her effortlessly to win the attention of people — and instantaneously their trust. Her heart is honest. She will be the first one to tell you that the first time she ran for public office in 2013 as representative of the third district of Camarines Sur, albeit her earlier declaration that she was “200 percent sure” not to run, was a decision born out of being practical.
In one of my interviews with her for PeopleAsia magazine shortly after she won a seat in Congress, Leni told me: “My decision to run is not romantic at all!”
Her sortie to the public office might not be romantic but her foray to the public’s heart was. However uncanny. The public first took notice of Leni in August 2012, the time her husband died in a plane crash. In the 25 years of their married life, Leni remained in the background of her larger-than-life husband, Jesse Robredo, the honest and no-nonsense DILG Secretary and six-time mayor of Naga City. Jesse was the man who captured the heart of Leni when she was 21 and he was 28. They met when Leni, a fresh Economics graduate from the University of the Philippines, was hired by Jesse to work for the Bicol River Basin Development Program in 1986.
Despite the pain of losing her beloved, Leni, a lawyer, displayed grace and equanimity when she mourned in public. Amidst her pain, her palpable spirit and optimism was infectious. Amidst her grief, she was calm and collected. More than that, she was hopeful and grateful.
Jesse was her anchor. To this day, he remains to be the moral compass of Leni and their three daughters. But Leni knows she is not Jesse. That’s what I like about Leni: she knows herself, her place, her position. And her vision is not clouded by what she is not. Instead, her sight is focused on continuing the legacy of good governance that her husband left behind.
“Hindi po ako si Jesse,” she said last Monday when she accepted the challenge to be the vice presidential bet of the Liberal Party in the 2016 polls. “Ngunit noong namatay po siya, maliwanag po sa aming mag-iina na siya ay umaasa, na sa abot ng aming makakaya, susubukan din naming magsakripisyo, gaya ng kanyang pagsasakripisyo, para makapag-ambag para sa ating bayan. Yung nakalipas na mahigit na dalawang taon po ang saksi na aking nasuklian naman ang aking kakulangan sa paghahanda ng matapat na panunungkulan. Sa aking paninilbihan bilang Kinatawan, ipinaglaban ko po ang karapatan ng mga naka-tsinelas — ‘yong nasa ibaba, nasa labas, at nasa laylayan ng ating lipunan.”
When one hears Leni saying she will fulfill her mission for the people, one believes her instantaneously — without a single molecule of doubt, without a heartbeat of hesitation, without the customary reservation one throws at many a politician. She enjoys the privilege of being trusted right away perhaps because one has already a conscious knowledge that honest leadership is ingrained in her system. It must be the legacy of honest and effective service Jesse left in the hearts and minds of the people — the very characteristics that he also willfully or instinctively preserved in the fiber of Leni’s consciousness.
I like Leni because she is alien to self-entitlement. She does not only take the bus to go home to Naga after her weekly commitment in Manila — even waits for her ride in front of a gas station in Magallanes — but she also prays every night to God to make her not addicted to power. The last time she checked it, God has been very kind to her that power has not gotten into her head, her brilliant head.
“That is what I always pray for — not to be affected by power. When I was in Naga, I was obscure. I was content just working without being noticed. Then all of a sudden, my husband died, all the attention is on us. It’s scary in the sense that unang una, baka magustuhan mo. Pangalawa, it might change you. I am always aware of that,” she admitted in one of my conversations with her.
“But I’m still okay,” she added with that smile from her expressive eyes. “I don’t look or crave for attention. Uncomfortable pa ako na pinapansin. Every day, I have to remind myself not to be affected by this kasi lahat ito ay dadaan lang. Once you lose yourself in this world, pati ang mga paniniwala mo, baka ma-corrupt.”
Leni is human. Forgiving and understanding. Beyond pain and hurt and heartache, she is level-headed. When it was easy for other people to cast a doubt on the service rendered by S/Insp. June Abrazado, Robredo’s aide who survived the crash, Leni was noble enough to fan out embers of division. She had no rancor, no hatred, no malice about why her husband died and his aide, who was supposed to protect the secretary, survived. In not so many words, she ruled out all kinds of division, negating them all, rendering them insignificant. In her heart and mind, she was grateful to Abrazado for all the years he spent serving her husband. Even her daughters were grateful to Abrazado for being loyal to their father.
I like Leni because, even if she does not show her vulnerability in public, she admits that privately she confronts her loneliness. Good days and bad days come to her and her children “like bubbles.”
“We are not an emotional family. When waves of emotion come, we try to control them. We all believe that kung bibigyan namin ng puwang, it will just get more difficult for us. When I am alone in the house or when everyone is asleep, the emotions come in waves. It’s not all the time, but most of the time, they come. But we don’t really dwell on them. Hindi namin minamahal ang pain. Hindi namin inaaruga yung pain.
“I always tell my children, it’s all right to grieve but we must channel that grief into something positive. Madali naman sila mag-shift. Hindi kami yung family na magmumukmok at iiyak,” Leni said, a shy smile tried to escape from her comely face.
Leni is a leader. She goes home to her constituents every week to deliver what genuine service is all about. She walks her talk. It does not matter to her at all that her skin tone has grown “20 shades darker after the 2013 election.”
At the Club Filipino last Monday, she told the crowd: “Patuloy po naming binibigyan ng lunas ang kakulangan ng mga silid aralan, maayos ang aming paghahanda sa mga sakuna, at mabago ang aming kahinaan sa pangangalaga ng kalusugan sa aming distrito. Gumagawa po kami ng mga paraan upang magkaroon ng maayos sistema na magbibigay ng sapat na kabuhayan sa mga kababaihan at mga manggagawa, na s’yang magbibigay rin ng oportunidad na kumain ng maayos at sapat ang ating mga kababayan. Linggo-linggo po ay bumababa ako sa aking distrito at umiikot, sinisiguro na nabibisita ang mga pinakamalalayong mga barangay na matagal nang hindi nabibigyan ng pansin. Ito po ay sa paniniwalang magkakaroon lamang ng puso at mabibigyan ng lalim ang aking paninilbihan kung personal kong nararamdaman ang kahirapan na pinagdaraanan ng aking mga kababayan.”
I like Leni because she is a romantic woman. Every day, she carries with her a part of her husband — the ashes in the locket of her necklace. As long as the locket tugs to her heart, she feels Jesse. She’s guided by his example. The luminary that Jesse was is the luminosity that shines upon Leni. They are never apart.
A miracle worker Leni is not. But it is from this limitation that she intends to prove further her mettle in public service.
A magician she is not. But it is through her vision and will power, and not through illusions and maneuverings, that she further proposes to effect change in the lives of other people.
Maria Leonor “Leni” Gerona Robredo, first-time public servant as representative of the third district of Camarines Sur and now P-Noy’s bet for the second highest position in the land, is confident she will deliver the goods to the people not only because it is her mandate but also because it is in her blood.
I like Leni because she makes me proud as a Filipino.
(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com.I’m also on Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)
