PHNO-HL: ROBREDO NEVER LEFT HOME; WIFE NOT SAYING GOODBYE /DAUGHTERS WILL SERVE NAGA

ROBREDO NEVER LEFT HOME; WIFE NOT SAYING GOODBYE /DAUGHTERS
WILL SERVE NAGA

[PHOTO -Share on facebook_likeShare 19 Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO]
NAGA CITY, AUGUST 30, 2012 (INQUIRER) By Juan Escandor Jr., Michael
Lim Ubac Inquirer Southern Luzon -Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo never
really left home.

"I will not say goodbye because I know that you will never leave us and will
always be in our midst," Robredo's widow, Maria Leonor or Leni, said in
accepting the posthumous Philippine Legion of Honor accorded to him shortly
before President Benigno Aquino delivered his eulogy at Peñafrancia Basilica
Minore here Tuesday.

"You are now back home where you truly belong. Rest well. We will love you
forever," she said.

The President conferred the highest award that could be bestowed on a
civilian without the need of Congress approval on Robredo after the requiem Mass
ending an eight-day wake here and at Malacañang in Manila. Robredo's remains
were recovered at the bottom of the sea off Masbate City, three days after his
plane crashed on August 18.

"In behalf of my children, my brother and sisters-in-law, and our entire
family, I accept this Legion of Honor award with deep and respectful gratitude.
This award recognizes my husband's achievements in public service, an
affirmation of his life and work," Leni said.

A celebration of life

[PHOTO -President Benigno Aquino III gives the coffin of
DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo a last touch as he arrives at the Basilica of the
Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia during the state funeral in Naga City on Tuesday.
Danny Pata]

"I am honored. Our entire family is honored. If Jess were here with us today,
I know he would shy away from excessive praise. He might find all the fuss, pomp
and pageantry a little uncomfortable."

"If we could hear Jess speak, I know he would be saying, 'This is too much,'"
she said. "But Jess, just this one time, allow us to celebrate your life in the
way we think you deserved to be honored."

The crowd applauded.

The two met when Leni applied for work at the Bicol River Basin Development
Project in the mid-1980s. Robredo was then program director.

Leni thanked the people of Naga for the support and love they had given her
husband. "We brought him back here to his happy place because he finds comfort
in your constant love. We are going to bury him near the cradle of Our Lady of
Peñafrancia," she said

Search-and-rescue

She said her family extended an apology to them "if you cannot have him all
for yourselves. Like you, many (people) also love him. But after this day, you
don't have to worry because you will have him all to yourselves again."

She thanked the President for the massive search-and-rescue operations that
saw over 600 uniformed personnel, along with ships, rubber boats and planes,
scouring Ticao Pass in search of Robredo and the two plane pilots.

The intense efforts of the government for the retrieval of her husband's body
and for the state funeral became a "beacon of hope and comfort" as the family
waited for Robredo to come home, Leni said. It helped the family deal with the
unexpected death and searing grief, she said.

She also expressed gratitude to Secretaries Manuel Roxas, Florencio Abad,
Edwin Lacierda, Dinky Soliman, Leila de Lima and Teresita Deles, and
Representative Emilio Abaya "who were always with Jess, not just in death but
also in life."

"Thank you for dreaming with him. Thank you for walking with him. Thank you
for staying with him until the very end," she said.

Anecdotes

[PHOTO -Leni Robredo, widow of DILG Secretary Jesse
Robredo, and their three daughters, drape a funeral pall on his coffin at the
Basilica of the Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia during the state funeral in Naga
City on Tuesday. Danny Pata]

Leni's anecdotes about her late husband were full of life.

She said Jesse was "always working so hard but at the same time always
rushing home to be with his family."

Neither Jesse nor their children felt any sense of entitlement due to his
position, and that he was conscious not to spend beyond their means so as not to
"be more vulnerable to temptations."

When Jesse, during one of his recent birthdays, received a number of
signature shirts as gifts, he piled them up inside his closet and told her, "God
will be angry at me already."

"The greatest gift he could give our children is a good name. In death, he
gave his children that gift and the best way we can all honor him is to guard
that name and make him proud," Leni said.

When Robredo became interior secretary, coming home to Naga every weekend
kept him grounded and made him stronger against temptations, she said.

Family handyman

"The weekend before that fateful crash, he fixed everything in the
house—busted lights, broken doorbell, leaking faucets. He always looked for work
to feel like a regular man of the house. He said these simple tasks made him
feel important to his family and strengthens him," she disclosed.

"Much has been said about how great Jess was as a public servant. But to us
his family, we will remember him most as an exceptional husband and father. He
died with nothing left unsaid. He constantly showered us with 'I love you's,'"
she added.

He texted her just about anything—while in the middle of a difficult
conversation, or sometimes when attending a formal function at some flashy
hotel, he would text me, "Bok, this is fine dining again; Surely, I will be
hungry again."

He often came home early enough to eat dinner with their daughters, and would
drop everything for them.

When they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary, he came home for a few
hours to surprise Leni with a "hodgepodge of flowers he got along the way."

Indeed, he was a simple man filled with his "loving gesture" which was all
they needed from a father.

Overflowing cup

[PHOTO -Workers unfurl a large tarpaulin in front of the
DILG office in Quezon City on Tuesday as an expression of gratitude to the late
Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo by his employees. Asti
Flores]
"In a moment of reflection, we agreed that we have been truly blessed not
only because we have three wonderful children, but also because life has
generally been good to us. That was when he first told me that he had already
fulfilled all his dreams for himself," Leni said.

She said her husband had told her: "I have exceeded my quota. This is more
than what I dreamed of. God has given me so much more than I asked from Him."


"His cup was indeed overflowing," Leni said. "His dreams for himself was
simple God gave him so much more than he asked for."

"His death was unexpected and we have dealt with the searing grief of losing
him. But I believe that for Jess it was not tragic, and he was not taken before
his time. He was never fearful of his life. He was always ready to face his
Creator," she said.

Grieving nation

Leni said the immense public response to her husband's death and the
collective grief shared by the nation would have given comfort to him that all
his efforts as a public servant hit their mark.

"I am amazed to see big burly men crying over his death. When the funeral
cortege passed by the streets of Manila and Naga, there were as much cheers as
there were tears," she said.

Robredo is deserving of the honors being given him now, she said. "Maybe for
him, it was the perfect end to a life well lived."

"We are truly blessed to have been loved by you. As my daughter said, 'You
may have been prepared to die, but we were not prepared to lose you.' We are
devastated by your loss, but even if we are grieving we will continue to live
because your spirit lives in us. I will make sure that your dreams for our
children will be fulfilled," she said.

"You are home now. You are back where you truly belong. Rest well, we will
love you forever."
Robredo's girl vows to pursue his legacy By Juan
Escandor Jr. Inquirer Southern Luzon 12:08 am | Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

[PHOTO -Patricia Robredo. Photo by Pancratio
Francisco / Malacañang Photo Bureau /PCOO]
NAGA CITY—Delivering a light and anecdote-filled response to tributes to her
father on Sunday night, the second daughter of the late Interior Secretary Jesse
Robredo vowed to pursue his legacy, with statements that hinted at a career in
politics in this city.

Patricia "Tricia" Robredo, 18, a premed student at Ateneo de Manila
University, described her father as a family man first and then a responsible
public official who rallied people to fight for good government by looking
inside for the heroes within them.

"Sec, Mayor, Pogi, Bok, bright boy, Papa … it will not stop on Facebook,
Twitter or TV our pledge to continue what you have started," Tricia said at
necrological rites for her father at City Hall here.

"I will be the one to take care of Mama," she promised, drawing applause from
the hundreds of mourners, including local officials, inside the main hall of the
administrative building where her father was lying in state and hundreds more
outside watching her on large screen monitors.

Will serve Naga

Tricia assured the mourners that they, the three daughters of Robredo, would
return to Naga City to continue the legacy of their father once they have become
successful professionals.

The Nagueños responded with an even louder and longer applause.

At the end of her 25-minute speech in Bicol, Tricia asked the mourners to
stand up and salute her father, on whom had been heaped since he died profuse
accolade and recognition for his work in public service and local government.


Jillian eyes stardom

Robredo died in a plane crash in Masbate province on August 18. He will be
buried Tuesday, with President Benigno Aquino leading the ceremonies to give him
state honors.

On the lighter side, Tricia said that after confirmation of their father's
death, her youngest sister Jillian, 13, asked their mother Leni how old Kris
Aquino was when her father, Sen. Ninoy Aquino, died.

Tricia said Jillian also wanted to become a movie star like Kris Aquino,
unlike her older sister Jessica Marie, whom she described as strong and smart,
and herself, who was "shy, full of drama" but preferred to be alone.

Tricia said her father loved all his daughters, tutored them, and provided

them with even the littlest of things, including tips on how to secure tickets
to a basketball game.

Her father, Tricia said, was a loving husband who always had surprises for
their mother. She recalled one instance when her father told her mother by phone
that he was coming home to Naga from Manila the next day, when all the time he
was already on a bus, together with his two daughters, traveling to Naga.

Unforgettable incident

Tricia recounted an incident that she described as unforgettable and it
happened when her father was the mayor of Naga City. One day, she said, a couple
came to their house, asking to be wed.

Her father was sick but did not say no. He wed the couple even though he was
in his pajamas, barefoot and wired to an intravenous bottle.

Tricia said her father never said anything unpleasant about anyone, even when
he was angry. When he was really angry, he bit his fingers to avoid letting out
unkind words.

"He was angry with others but he vented it on himself," she said.

Her father brushed aside dangers that came with his job in the government,
she said. He kidded about them, she said, even his once narrowly escaping a bomb
attack in Maguindanao.

Thanks to everyone

Tricia thanked the mourners for the prayers and moral support they had given
to her family. She also thanked the fishermen and divers who helped to bring
back her father's body from the sea.

She said her family did not expect such outpouring of support, but was happy
to know that many people loved her father.

Tricia said she hoped everyone would continue the legacy of her father, and
to see a Robredo in everyone who cared for him.




Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




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