Vice President Robredo has graced PeopleAsia‘s covers twice; first in 2012 as a mother and widow in search of understanding and God’s grace, then a second time this year in PeopleAsia’s latest issue as the Philippines’ highest ranking female public servant.
When asked how she intended to uphold her husband’s legacy in an interview in 2012, she answered “everything is still up in the air at this time. There are many suggestions from well-meaning people about how we could best uphold his legacy but I really didn’t have the chance to sit down and study all the options and suggestions. But definitely, my children and I will be active in all the endeavors to keep his memory alive and perpetuate his legacy.” She added by saying, “my children need me and I will deprive them of my time and attention if I join politics.”
But in the four years after her 2012 PeopleAsia cover shoot and interview, something had changed. Now Vice President, Leni admits that “in the beginning, I would say, ‘I will never do that (run for vice president), but as the days went by, it was as if all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.” She further explains that “even if it felt right then, I told the President, I told Secretary Mar (Roxas) that even if I already that this is something I have to do, I won’t do it without the blessings of my children because the will be in the line of fire with me. So, I think I was a Saturday evening. I just arrived from Naga City, and when I got home the kids told me, ‘Sige na, Mom,’ grudgingly. But the fact that they were okay with it already, even if it was against what they felt was right, it was a sign.”
This sign did not go unheeded. In May 2016, the once reluctant widow won the vice presidential race.
(LEFT: Then lawyer Leni Robredo in PeopleAsia’s October – November 2012 issue, and RIGHT: Vice President Robredo returns in PeopleAsia’s October – November 2016 issue. For inquiries and reservations, call Bong Ducut at (02) 892-1854, or text (0922) 877 6556.)
