Whether responding to disasters or planning how to rescue flood
victims at emergency Cabinet meetings, Jesse Robredo would always turn
up looking so cool in tsinelas (rubber slippers). The image
defined him, and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, speaking at a
necrological service for the late secretary of the interior in
Malacañang on Saturday night, called it Robredo’s “tsinelas brand of
leadership.”
It was the last night of the state vigil for Robredo in the Palace
and members of the Cabinet gave their departed colleague a merry,
song-filled tribute before his family took his body back to his hometown
in Naga City on Sunday morning.
The colleague Cabinet members called “Pogi”—handsome —died in a plane
crash in Masbate province on August 18, leaving President Aquino
suddenly without a popular and respected ally to handle the
consolidation of local power as his administration faced its first local
and congressional elections next year.
Cabinet secretaries, along with Vice President Jejomar Binay and
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., remembered Robredo in songs,
laughter and speeches.
As mourners filed past Robredo’s bier at Kalayaan Hall, they
performed Robredo’s favorite songs in between eulogies, drawing smiles
from the
President and Robredo’s widow, Leni, and daughters Aika, Patricia and Jillian.
Eulogy
In his eulogy titled “Tsinelas,” Almendras recalled that when
Aquino called an emergency meeting in the military headquarters in
the aftermath of the August 7 massive flooding in the capital, he was
amused to see Robredo looking so cool in rubber slippers.
Days later, he said, when the President and the Cabinet officials
motored to evacuation centers, Robredo disappeared from the van, but
showed up later on stage, wearing slippers. Robredo came prepared, as
they waded in floods at the entrance to a school in Valenzuela City.
“He’d tell me: ‘Pare, this is the right
footwear for floods. Flood victims use slippers,’” Almendras said. He
described Robredo’s tsinelas leadership as a “pragmatic” and “a more
demonstrative version of servant leadership.”
As Almendras sees it, Robredo’s leadership has
many features. The first, Almendras said, is willingness to wade in
floods and travel to the most far-flung areas “to be with the most
disadvantaged people.”
“We all know Secretary Jesse rarely said no.
That’s why he was one of the most well-traveled Cabinet members. He went
to many places where some of us could not go to,” he said.
The presence of mourners from Mindanao during
the first night of the vigil on Friday was a testament to how far
Robredo would go “just to reach people,” he added.
Another characteristic of Robredo’s leadership, he said, was breaking down the barriers “between us and the people we serve.”
“Many years ago, a young architect told me: I
will design it so nicely so that those shod in slippers will be shy to
get in. We’re here in Malacañang; we’re here at Kalayaan Hall. Look
around you. This place was not designed for tsinelas. And yet last
night, and throughout most of today, how many thousands of slippers came
into this room to pay tribute, to pay homage and honor to Secretary
Jesse?” Almendras said, referring to the mourners filing into the
American-era hall to pay their last respects to Robredo.
“Leaders must be acceptable, accessible to those they serve. That was Secretary Jesse Robredo,” he added.
And, of course, what is tsinelas leadership but being casual with people?
Almendras said: “But really wearing slippers is
the most casual form. Being casual is being warm. Leaders must be
casual with the people they serve so that they can listen, hear and
empathize with the people that they serve. That was Secretary Jesse
Robredo in its truest form.”
More important, this kind of leadership all boils down to base-level transformation, he said.
“It’s about transforming the expectations of
people from their leaders so that the next set of leaders will be better
than the good ones we now have. Tsinelas leadership is about working on
the basics, no frills, something as uncomplicated and casual as the
tsinelas but with a very, very clear vision. That was Secretary Jesse
Robredo,” Almendras said.
Genuine concern
A day before Robredo died, Almendras said he
got a call from the interior secretary who sounded so concerned about
why floodwaters in Bulacan, a province north of Manila, had not subsided
and what could be done about it.
Almendras said he promised to bring it up with Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson.
“The very last line he told me was: ‘All right, pare.
Our countrymen are really in a pitiful state.’ That is tsinelas
leadership. A genuine concern and care for the people that we serve.
That is Secretary Jess Robredo in its true context,” Almendras said.
Robredo was wearing slippers long before flip-flops and Havaianas became fashionable, Almendras said.
“My wish and prayer is the tsinelas leadership
begun by Secretary Jess will become fashionable,” he said. Then turning
to Robredo’s widow, he said: “Attorney Len, Pogi is also a fashion
trendsetter. It won’t be far-fetched for candidates in 2013 to campaign
in tsinelas. I hope this won’t just be for picture-taking. I hope they
will step up to the standards that have been set by Secretary Jess
Robredo, and that they will be worthy to wear the tsinelas.”
After the eulogies, the Cabinet officials rose
from their seats and proceeded to the front of the bier and, clutching
copies of lyrics, they sang Robredo’s favorite songs, “Impossible Dream”
and “My Way.”
They ended Frank Sinatra’s famous song with the
lyrics: “It was Jesse’s way.” Strategic Communication Secretary Ricky
Carandang, the emcee, later said, “You know, I always hated that song,
but tonight I liked it.”
The Cabinet dedicated their third and final
song, The Stylistics’ “Betcha by Golly, Wow” to Leni Robredo, with
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima leading. The song was the Robredo
couple’s favorite.
At the start of the Cabinet memorial service,
Noel Cabangon performed two songs, setting the tone for a night of
entertainment and laughter.
Earlier, during the Liberal Party’s memorial
service, Ogie Alcasid and Christian Bautista sang gospel songs. This was
capped by Bayang Barrios with “Bayan Ko.”
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Robredo’s
colleague in the Cabinet and in the Liberal Party, said he and Finance
Secretary Cesar Purisima discussed the meaning of Robredo’s passing.
“Cesar remarked: ‘Pare, what happened
to Jesse is difficult … If we die, and we don’t get this kind of
outpouring of grief, they might say we’ve done nothing,’” he said,
drawing laughter. “Maybe, you should immediately get cremated.”
But then Abad said Robredo was a “tough act to
follow,” saying he set an extraordinary standard as a public official,
family man and servant of God.
“I, myself, have been grappling with this
question and it’s clear to me that Jesse’s death isn’t the loss of this
administration alone, it is the entire country’s. And our loss is
defined first and foremost by Jesse’s uncanny, almost unmatched ability
to navigate the delicate complexities of public service,” he said.
A good man
The sum of his achievements was founded on a basic truth: That Jesse was a “good man,” Abad said.
He wondered if it was coincidence that
Robredo’s body was recovered on the 29th anniversary of the
assassination of the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. when he returned
from exile in the United States on August 21.
“Perhaps, perhaps not. But judging from the
grief that swept the nation, judging from the public clamor for a new
hero like Jesse, his passing invoked in us a renewed sense of commitment
in much the same way as Ninoy’s death became Jesse’s impetus for public
service,” Abad said.
“And here we are now at the very cusp of a
revolution that the unprecedented election of our dear President Aquino
into office catalyzed and which Jesse’s narrative further enhanced: A
movement for effective, transparent and accountable governance and a
call for the empowerment of all Filipinos, especially the poor and the
disadvantaged,” Abad said.
The three-day state vigil for Robredo in
Malacañang ended Sunday morning, with President Aquino leading departure
honors for him at Kalayaan Hall before his remains were flown back to
his hometown.
Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said a predawn Mass prior to the sendoff ceremonies on the Palace grounds.
The President, Leni Robredo and her children,
and select members of the Cabinet watched as an honor guard composed of
150 members of the Presidential Security Group rendered departure
honors, paying last respects to the late interior secretary with a
19-gun salute.
The hearse bearing the remains of Robredo left
Malacañang at about 7:25 a.m. for Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, where
planeside honors were given by the Armed Forces of the Philippines
before the remains were flown back to Naga.
The plane carrying Robredo’s casket arrived at
Naga Airport a little past 9 a.m. A series of necrological services was
held, with public viewing commencing at 6 p.m. and lasting until late
Monday.
The President has declared Tuesday a nonworking holiday in Naga for Robredo’s interment.
Aquino will deliver a eulogy at the funeral.
