Vice President Leni Robredo: Destined

By JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
She was a wife with no plans of being widowed; a widow with no plans of running for Congress; a congresswoman with no plans of running for vice president. But like many reluctant heroes, Maria Leonor Gerona Robredo would soon learn, that life isn’t always about what is planned, as much as it is about what is destined.

(Photo by MAU AGUASIN | Art direction by CHINO CORRALES | Shot on location at SHANGRI-LA THE FORT)

“How I wish it was me.” That was the thought that brewed in Leni’s mind as an online basher wished for her death over that of her husband, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.

“Ako na-tempt na ako na sagutin, ‘Hindi mo lang alam na nung bumagsak yung eroplano ng asawa ko, every day, every night, wini-wish ko na sana ako na lang yung nasa eroplanong yun,’ (‘I was so tempted to say that ‘if you only knew, every day and every night, I wish that it was me who went down in that plane instead’),” Robredo later said in an interview with Jessica Soho for State of the Nation.

Leni had just won the 2016 elections by the skin of her teeth — besting her closest rival and perennial survey favorite Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. by a little more than 200,000 votes. But electoral protests, the loss of her running mate and a steady stream of hecklers proved that victory yet again, could be bittersweet for the widow from Naga.

It didn’t dishearten her though. Bittersweet, after all, is a taste she has become familiar with in the last few years.

(VP Leni Rebredo takes her oath as the 14th Vice President of the Philippines at Quezon City’s Executive House | Photo by Aaron Favila)

Choosing her battles

It was not Jesse’s death that presented a myriad of opportunities for Leni. It was his legacy. And along with that legacy, were the battles Leni had to plow through, in order to move forward.

“All my life, I’ve learned how to choose my battles. Protest doesn’t really bother me, only in the sense that I have to hire a lawyer and spend. For me though, it is a worthless exercise that I have to go through. My husband has been through six elections and all those elections yung mga natatalo nagpa-file ng kaso (losing candidates always file cases). I’ve also been in elections where cases were filed,” says Leni, as she sat down for an exclusive interview with PeopleAsia.

A picture of grace and humility, Leni recognizes the editorial team before her — composed of the same people who first photographed and interviewed her for the magazine in 2012, a month after Jesse’s fateful demise. Leni, despite having skyrocketed to the second highest office in the land, remains the same shy lady we met in Naga — accommodating but not loquacious; slightly timid in her demeanor, yet resolute in her statements. She is soft, but she’s no fluff.

Soon after she won the vice presidential race, then President-elect Rodrigo Duterte made a statement that he wouldn’t appoint Leni to a Cabinet post, in consideration of friend and political ally Bongbong Marcos’ feelings. The Vice President accepted this fate with her head bowed down, choosing not to go into battle, but to offer her unequivocal support to the President instead. But that is not to say that she didn’t have her fair share of nerves.

President Duterte and Leni first met during the change-of-command ceremony held in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. “Before that event, I was bracing myself for the worst, that he will not mind me, acknowledge me, even in private. When he went up the stage, nilapitan ko siya (I went to him) and he sounded very warm. Nabunutan ako ng tinik (a thorn was removed from my side). I wasn’t really expecting a Cabinet post anymore. It was enough that we broke the ice. The Cabinet post was just a bonus.”

A picture of the two highest official of the land together quickly spread throughout the Web. And before they knew it, #Dubredo had become an item.

(Leni’s daughters Aika, Trisha and Jillian Robredo with Rep. Gina de Venecia during a thanksgiving Mass celebrated for her before the elections | Photo from Bullit Marquez)

#Dubredo

Leni blushes a little when we raise the matter of #Dubredo during the interview. “I feel funny, but I understand where the people are coming from. After the elections, there was so much talk of how we weren’t seeing eye-to-eye. Then all of a sudden, we met at the military event and everything seemed alright. I think the people’s joy translated into that. It was a relief for everyone that the two top officials can see eye-to-eye,” she says.

In a matter of weeks, Leni paid a courtesy call to the President; the President offered her the post of Housing chief in front of a media delegation; and Leni would soon attend her first Cabinet meeting along with the President’s other appointees.

The offer was very unconventional. Leni was in Lanao for a provincial visit when the President called her up. At first, she thought the President was just sharing a story on how the media had been bugging him on why he wouldn’t give her a Cabinet post. To this, Leni replied: “Ganyan din po ako, pero sinabi ko rin po na hindi natin napag-usapan at sinabi ko naman sa’yo Mr. President na with or without a Cabinet post, you have my full support. (Me too, but I tell them that it wasn’t something we discussed. And as I have said before, with or without a Cabinet post, Mr. President, you have my full support.)”

It took a while before she realized that she was being appointed chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). When her oath-taking was set for July 12, 2016, her daughter Aika sent a text message reminding her that six years ago on that very day, Jesse also took his oath before President Benigno Aquino III.

(President Rodrigo Duterte and Leni meeting for the first time after they won the 2016 elections | Photo from Bullit Marquez)

Simply Jesse, Simply Leni

Her oathtaking as HUDCC chair is not the only coincidence she shares with Jesse. Leni was also declared as the winning vice presidential candidate on May 27, 2016, the birthday of her late husband. He would’ve turned 58. “It’s Jesse’s way of showing us that he never really left us. There are too many coincidences, especially the canvassing, which we expected to conclude on the first week of June, yet was finished on May 27. I was in Naga then,” she shares. “It is re-assuring.”

In the first few weeks since she became vice president, Leni notes that a lot of things have changed when it comes to the lives she and her children lead. Work has risen to a phenomenal high, but she isn’t complaining. It was the easiest part to adjust to for the hardworking public servant. “Yung trabaho naman kasi even when I was in Congress, even when I was a practicing lawyer, grabe na talaga akong magtrabaho so yun hindi yun bago (In our line of work, even when I was still in Congress or a practicing lawyer, I’ve always pushed the envelope when it comes to work. It’s nothing new to me.)”

Attention though, is an entirely different animal, and Leni tries to tame it by maintaining a low-key lifestyle. “Follow all traffic rules, no special treatment,” she would always remind her entourage. Her privacy has also ebbed a little, with Leni claiming that the security detail would no longer allow her to drive on her own, or ride the bus alone like she used to.

As for Aika, Tricia and Jillian, Leni says that they have started to fade into the background — just as they agreed upon before she ran for VP. She is thankful for their support, but the Robredo girls believe the time has come for them to pursue their own personal passions, as Leni pursues her passion for the people on a much greater scale. The mother of three also reveals that she will try to lessen her activities even in the evening so she can once again tutor, or at the very least, be there for her youngest, Jillian, when classes resume this month.

As I review my first interview with Leni, the widow, from three years ago, I see that her life has changed for obvious reasons. But the lady herself hasn’t. For long before the elections came, she has always had her heart set on serving the people — from the time she was simply Mrs. Robredo, to the time she earned the powerful prefixes that now precede her name.

Destiny might have changed Leni’s life, but it didn’t change her. She just blossomed, and oh, what a blossoming it was.

(A light moment with Jesse from 17 years ago taken in Boston, as Jesse was taking his Master’s degree in Harvard | Photo from Leni Robredo’s Facebook page)

(Special thanks  to LESLIE ANNE TA and JUDY DEL CASTILLO | PeopleAsia August – September 2016)

***
A house that is a home for the people

While Leni never presumed to play the role of housing chief, she hit the ground running when the President called for her. For she has seen the challenges of poverty, not just in numbers or in theory, but up close and personal.

Speaking during the Business World Economic Forum, the Vice President shared how she once walked hours and passed through a hanging bridge to reach a classroom with only nine chairs. When she asked what the schedule on the Manila paper posted on the board was for, the teacher explained that it was the “sitting schedule” so that all 38 children in the class may have their turn to take a seat.

One time, she also passed by a group of teachers by the side of the road, feverishly discussing how they would build a classroom out of the eight posts they have on hand. The principal had just gone to town to buy the additional materials, from his own pocket, since the pledge of a politician wasn’t fulfilled — and classes were to start the next week. Leni had P 12,000 in her wallet and she gave P 10,000 to the teachers so that they could start their work immediately.

(A staunch pro-poor and pro-human rights advocate, Leni is known to travel to remote regions in the country as part of what is known as “Tsinelas Leadership | Photo taken from Leni Robredo’s Facebook page)

On both occasions, she turned to social media. On both occasions, more than what was asked was delivered — a surplus of chairs came in for the first classroom; and funds to build four classrooms with a small comfort room each, came for the second school. The hanging bridge has also since been replaced with a concrete one, thanks to people who helped.

These positive turn of events sparked a sense of hope in her, hopes that people would help other people, if only they knew how. This has since become her new mission — for the office of the VP and the housing chair to be the crossroads where partner corporations and possible beneficiaries may meet.

“Inclusive growth is not just critical for those in the fringes of society, but also for your businesses to grow sustainably. Businesses and capital markets have been fueling global growth, creating a wealth for nations,” she said at the forum.

(Photo taken from Leni Robredo’s Facebook page)

“We will enjoin the private sector to be our partners in providing not just houses, but decent and affordable communities where our people will find jobs, where their children can safely go to school, attend church, run around and play safely. We are not asking for your charity. Companies like Phinma Properties have proven that these developments can be commercially viable, as shown by their on-site resettlement investments in Quezon City,” she also said.

Promising to knock on the doors of the private sector and hoping for a warm welcome, Leni stressed that the betterment of the poor is the betterment of the nation.

(Photo taken from Leni Robredo’s Facebook page)

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