BY JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ
Vice President Leni Robredo said today she definitely won’t have a first gentleman in her life if she becomes President, and isn’t sure where she’ll be staying if elected, saying she wants to remain true to “who I am.”
In a round table discussion with members of the lifestyle media, this Angela Merkel fan also said that despite tearful pleadings from her daughters, she resolved to run for the presidency “to answer the call of service, as I always have.”
A self-confessed romantic whose favorite movies include “Love Affair,” she said she is who she is because of her late husband, former Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo, and it would be impossible to find his equal, ever.
She admires Merkel, the former German chancellor, “who was underestimated all her life but performed more than what was expected of her.” She admires how Merkel lived a simple lifestyle despite being one of the most powerful people in the world.
Robredo, who acknowledges that Filipino women have to fight for empowerment, also admires two other women leaders : New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, especially for her management of the pandemic, and Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, for being feisty without being “brute.”
This mother of three says she hasn’t thought of where she will take up residence if elected, and reveals she can’t carry a tune — even to win votes.
She gets her strength from being a “positive” person, and rarely gets ruffled unless one of her children is sick and is in need of care.
She follows a simple skin care regimen of moisturizer and sunblock, and “refuses to spend a lot of time to beautify myself.”
