Secretary of Philippine Department of Interior and Local Government Jesse Robredo went missing after the Piper Seneca plane he took from Cebu, with Senior Inspector Jun Abrasado, and the pilots, Jessup Bahinting and Nepali Kshitiz Chand, plunged into the waters off Masbate City on Saturday afternoon. The plane went down about a kilometer (0.6 miles) from Masbate on Saturday. Abrazado was rescued alive hours after the plane crash.
 
 Recovery was difficult as the fuselage had overturned but operations continued to retrieve the bodies of the victims, first that of Robredo’s which was floating near the door of the plane, then the two pilots who were also found inside the Piper Seneca plane and penned down as the plane nose dived, according to Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas who officially confirmed the retrieval of the bodies of the plane crash victims.
 
Philippine Star said that the 54-year-old Robredo was mayor of Naga City since 1988 before being appointed as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government of the incumbent administration. He was among the Philippines’ most awarded local leaders, and received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, Asia’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. He was probably the most awarded local government leader in the Philippines with over 140 awards and citations to his name, according to some newspaper reports. A former Naga City mayor, he raised the city to first class from third class.
 
Robredo is also one of the founders of the Kaya Natin Movement, with former Isabela Governor Grace Padaca and former Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, and other local officials and groups advocating good governance, as per newspaper report. According to Sen. Teofisto Guingona III ‘the country lost a bastion of good governance.’
 
Everyone knows Jesse Robredo was the protégé of Sec. Mar Roxas who recommended the former Naga City mayor to the DILG post. In fact, it was Roxas who helped Robredo obtain a scholarship to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where the latter finished an MA in Public Administration.
Media reports indicated that Roxas strongly batted for Robredo’s appointment in the Aquino cabinet. He was convinced that the Naga politician with his background as a local government executive would play a major role in whatever future political plans he would harbor for himself, according to political observers.
 
It is also no secret that President Noynoy Aquino at first was not too keen on appointing Robredo, a Liberal Party member. After a year however President Aquino was eventually convinced that the Bicolano politician was a good person for the local government portfolio.
 
The President and Robredo became close, not only as friends, but as an ally and together they worked tirelessly for the good of the people. The President talked about Robredo with fondness during the salvage operation and he talked about the good times he had with Robredo. Aquino sees Robredo not only as a political ally or party mate in the Liberal Party or a personal friend, but as a very close friend.
 
As interior secretary, Robredo had supervisory and administrative control of the country’s 143,000-strong national police force which has long been known for corruption and abuse. In recent months before this accident, he had been cracking down on financial irregularities in the police and working to dismantle the private armies ahead of the national elections in 2013. He also oversaw local government officials including some politicians who use private armies to enforce their will.
 
As chair of the National Police Commission and in-charge of a technical committee on crime prevention and criminal justice system, he was involved in the development of a national crime prevention plan which integrated the strategies of the 5 pillars of the justice system, including the Supreme Court.
 
It was his involvement with crime prevention work that anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See, who was saddened by his passing, remembered Robredo as one of the Cabinet officials she worked with closely.  ‘Even late at night, he will not hesitate to come to talk to us and families of victims of heinous crimes’, she said. Ang-See also added that when they have complaints against certain policemen he was the only one they could approach.
 
From the church, Bishop Martin Jumoad of Basilan described Robredo’s passing as a ‘great loss to the Filipino nation.’
 
Robredo was supposed to fly to Basilan on Tuesday after this accident to attend the provincial peace and order council meeting, which was aimed at tackling the recent violence that hit the province, including attacks by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits on rubber plantations.
 
Robredo was closely involved with the reform being instituted by the government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and because of his work he was regarded as a reformist. He consistently supported the reform initiatives and played crucial role in uniting Filipino Muslim leaders.
 
According to his second-in-command in the DILG, Deputy Secretary Rico Puno, Robredo was a devoted family man who always wanted to go back to Naga City where his family was located and for Robredo any mode of transportation would do as long as he is with his family, particularly on the weekend.
 
Newspaper reports stated that Puno revealed that Robredo was booked on a Cebu Pacific flight to Manila at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, but because he wanted to get home earlier, he dropped the initial booking and took a private plane instead. He was, however, surprised that instead of taking the regular airplane that they normally take Robredo took a private plane for his flight to Naga City from Cebu. The Piper Seneca left Mactan-Cebu International Airport at 3:06pm.
 
Then at 3:33 p.m., Jun Abrasado, Robredo’s aide de camp, texted Col. Ritchie Posadas, chief of the Police Center for Aviation Security-7 (PCAS-7) at MCIA, stating about the problem with the propeller and said that they decided to return to Cebu.
 
Puno said Mactan airport authorities booked Robredo on another Cebu Pacific flight to Manila that was leaving at 5 p.m.
 
At 4:22 p.m., Abrasado texted again to say that the light plane was making an emergency landing in Masbate. It was the same time that Robredo was talking to his wife.
 
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo’s stint as a member of the Aquino cabinet was not an easy one, in addition to the refusal of the Commission on Appointment to confirm his appointment, there were unending demands for his resignation but he was committed to stay in office for the full term of President Aquino.
 

According to Harvey Keh, lead convenor of Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, the deceased planned to finish Aquino’s term and after which he might have a run for a higher position or returned to the private sector. He did not feel the pressure from the crises confronting his department. Keh said that Robredo always enjoys challenges. Kaya Natin regarded Robredo as the “epitome of effective, ethical and empowering leadership in our government.”

As a co-worker in local governance, former Governor Padaca was quoted by a Manila newspaper to have said Robredo was “too busy to think of his own plans for 2016.” She remembered during his first few months as Cabinet secretary she asked Mrs. Leni Robredo how Robredo was, and the wife told her that all he wanted was to go home to Naga. But after a while, seeing him in the news and talking with him once in a while, ‘I was glad to know he was getting the hang of it and was fast showing and spreading to local governments the programs and initiatives that are ‘tatak Robredo’ -  which is ethical, effective, and empowering,’ according to Padaca.
 

Manila newspapers revealed that on Saturday, Robredo was in Cebu for a national summit of police officials and had booked a ticket on a commercial airline for a flight back to Manila. But he chose instead to detour to Naga, wanting to personally give one of his daughters a treat as a prize for winning an international competition.
 
As a family man, Pilippine Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez-David said: ‘He always made his way home…. Every weekend, without fail he would fly home to his family in Naga City, even if it meant taking the last flight out on Friday just so he could be with his family on the weekend.’ 
 
Columnist Jimenez-David also recalled that Robredo was a fast-rising executive with the San Miguel conglomerate when, perhaps inspired by the three years of anti-Marcos struggle after the Aquino assassination and the “People Power” revolt of 1986, decided to leave the private sector to work in government. She added that ‘the family can find comfort in the unblemished record and unselfish service he left behind, a legacy they should treasure with pride and fondness.’
 
Journalist Conrado de Quiros who also came from Naga City has this say about the deceased: ‘Jesse was a great manager, that was his strong suit. But more than that, he was a dedicated public official, which was his stronger suit. Throughout his long years as mayor of Naga, I never heard him accused of pilfering from the public till. Throughout his long years as mayor of Naga, I never heard him accused of having power get to his head. He continued to take public transport. He continued to live simply.’
 
It is uncanny that almost three decades ago, a man of integrity and honesty died for his country. He was former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983 and 29 years later on the same date, authorities solemnly announced the recovery of the body of Robredo, a noted reformist, who was a passenger on board a light plane that plunged into the waters off Masbate City.
 
As the nation mourn his passing, a newspaper columnist observed that ‘his star had grown in size and sheen way beyond the Naga City limits, becoming some sort of role model for the young, idealistic but successful politician, and setting a model for governance that today is spreading across the country.’
 
As to the future, the same writer made the assertion that ‘perhaps his passing marks a stage as well for the maturation of alternative models for local and national officials beyond the modelling stage for we are now seeing a number of such officials growing into a critical mass that could set our country in promising directions.’

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine