Like father, like Leni
Vice President Leni Gerona Robredo grew up in a home in Naga City that was constantly open to strangers in need.
“I grew up with my dad always bringing home people that he would pass by on the road that needed help. Minsan mga bata, minsan mga matatanda. Ang usual na ginagawa ay pinapakain at binibihisan ng maayos. Yung mga bata na kailangang paliguan, papaliguan,” Robredo said in response to a question on her childhood during a roundtable discussion with members of the lifestyle press. Her father, Antonio, was a practicing lawyer before he was appointed a Regional Trial Court judge, while her mother Salvacion was an English teacher.
“He would always ask us to give away our toys. Once, my youngest brother cried and my father told him, ‘Meron ka namang iba diyan, ibigay mo na kasi kawawa naman, wala siyang toys.’ We grew up with a father who was like that, and we were used to that until I was married already. Hindi na ako naninibago na merong mga tao sa bahay. Pag bumabagyo, yung sa likod ng bahay namin, meron kasi yung mga maliliit lang yung bahay na delikado pag bagyo, tumutulo. Padating pa lang yung malakas bagyo, pupuntahan na sila ng tatay ko, papalipatin sa amin. And ‘yung bahay namin, hindi naman malaki. But I would look forward to having other children in the home because they were my playmates. I grew up with that kind of environment at home.”
Thus, service to others was always her guiding light, as a newly minted lawyer with the Public Attorney’s Office, with NGOs or as an elected public servant. When her husband, then Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo died in a plane crash, Leni was working with an NGO.
She says that though she ran for different reasons — in 2013 (to take the place of a candidate Jesse had endorsed), 2016 (as a duty to her party, the Liberal Party, whose first choice for VP backed out) and in 2022 (when she decided that if she failed to unite other presidential aspirants and if endorsed by 1Sambayanan, she would run). Leni says, “So each and every time, the main factor that pushed me to run was different. But each and every time, it was always an answer to a call to serve.”
Thus, this lapsed K-Drama fan (she has had no time to indulge in them anymore, but reveals her favorite K-Drama series is Doctors) and rom-com aficionado (she says she would watch Love Affair starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening and Sabrina starring Harrison Ford all over again if she had the time), vows to serve as VP till the last day, even if she is also a presidential bet. “Dagdag oras araw-araw,” is how she does both.
“Right now, what we’re doing is we are continuing with Bayanihan E-konsulta; that’s a free telemedicine platform. We’re doing swab cabs; we’re doing that twice or three times a week ever since the surge started. We’re also doing Vaccine Express. So it’s many other things as far as COVID response is concerned, but we’re also continuing with our typhoon Odette relief and rehabilitation efforts.
“When I finish my term, I can look at anybody straight in the eye and say that I did my best, I did the best that I could, given the limitations that were given to me. Having said that, I have also discovered a lot of many good things. And number one is that the Filipino is really inherently generous. We were able to do a lot of things because we were successful in collaborating with the private sector. A part of me has become, I guess, a little jaded already (but) I have more faith in the Filipino people despite the difficulties. All in all, I would still think that it has been a very good five and a half years. And I continue to be very hopeful, and very inspired to do whatever I still can to make a difference in the lives of many Filipinos.”
Her secret
The secret to her inner strength and physical stamina, she says, is her positive attitude.
“I have always been a very positive person. I’m not easily ruffled by a lot of things. It will take so much to really affect me. So, I think that’s what’s keeping me healthy,” says Leni, who despite her constant exposure to crowds and recently, to a close-in aide who tested positive for COVID, has never tested positive herself for the virus.
Being a mother, what momentarily “got her” was when her daughter Tricia tested positive for COVID.
“That was the worst time for me because we were in the middle of typhoon Odette operations at the time she tested positive,” admitted the vice president. “So these are the things that bring me down, pag ‘yung mga bata na ang natatamaan.”
For her physical health, she takes vitamins, sleeps five to six hours a day, puts on a moisturizer and reminds herself to wear sunblock as well. She has no time to exercise at the moment, prefers to dress simply and doesn’t shop much because of lack of space in what she describes as their tiny condominium.
Will there be an FG?
That question, which I propounded, drew an immediate answer from Leni.
“I don’t have any room for romance anymore. And there will definitely be no First Gentleman. I think I’ve said this so many times already, ang suwerte ko sa asawa ko. And I don’t think I’d ever find somebody who can approximate the kind of husband that I lost.”
When I asked who she looked up to, whether a politician or not, her answer was as immediate as well.
“I do look up to some world leaders and most of them are women. One of them is (former German) Chancellor Angela Merkel. I respect her a lot. She has been underestimated all her life. But she has always performed more than what was expected of her. She delivers results, very unifying, and on top of it, she was able to maintain a very, very simple lifestyle despite the fact that she was one of the most powerful leaders in the world. Simpleng-simple lang, sila lang mag-asawa ang nag aasikaso ng lahat. I like that. I also look up to Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand. I really like the way she leads New Zealand during this pandemic. I watch her daily news briefings, and I think she is unafraid to try new things, unconventional in a good sort of way, with very good communication skills, which I hope I also have. President Tsai-Ing Wen of Taiwan also. Siya yung babaeng matapang pero ‘yung tapang, hindi brute force. Tapang by the way she handles the most difficult moments of the country.”
Grace and grit. Raised in a home full of kindness and eventually thrust into a world where she had to be both a giver and a fighter, Leni Robredo has learned from the best.
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