A Good Man [A Tribute - SalamatJesse]

I was woken up by a text message saying that Sec. Robredo's body was already found after two days of waiting for news. I didn't know what struck me that moment that I almost immediately got out of my slumber and I momentarily sat on the edge of my bed. It was a rare thing for me to get out of bed before 10 am but that text message really pulled a string. I read the text message again, I don't know what, maybe I was hoping that it was just another false text just like the news of the fishermen saving Sec. Robredo but turned out to be the his aide. I guess I didn't want it to be true. I don't know what I was looking for or what I was doing but I found myself desperate for an access for any forms of media so that can verify if indeed the news was true. I asked my dorm mate about it and she confirmed it to me, saying that it was already a trending topic on the social media Twitter.

I took part in praying for Sec. Robredo's safety the moment I  heard about the plane crash. I was with my two sisters and my cousin when the news broke out. At first, I was very hopeful that he will be rescued in no time but as the night grew on and the rescue operations stopped because of the dark, I suddenly felt tragic. I couldn't put to words what I was feeling that time. I was already half-sure of myself that sooner it will be over. He was gone. But still, I prayed for him, for his safety. 

I sat for a while thinking of how everything seemed so impossible. Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone whose close to the Robredo family, I only saw him by chance once in a mall in Makati before he became a Secretary but I knew right then and there that he was a very humble person; stopping and shaking hands with every Bicolano that he met with a genuine smile on his face. I didn't know who he was until he left and my uncle told me that he was a former mayor in Naga, a very good one at that. He didn't look like a public official back then because he didn't have bodyguards at all. He just wore a simple polo shirt and black jeans while (I assume) waiting for his family. He indeed was a family man. 

I've heard and seen all the good things that he did not only to his beloved Nagueños but to the Filipino community as a whole.  I am a part of the community that he would want to change for the better if he was given a chance. I may not know this man personally but based on the things that hear, see and read, I know that we really lost a good man and public servant. He was the epitome of good governance. I am a Bicolano and I see how Naga is right now, all thanks to his reforms and his effort to start the change in his community. The Nagueños are very lucky to have a son like him. As I read all the tribute to the late Jesse Robredo, I can't help but be touched to the warmth and love that all his constituents are giving him. He is one of the most loved public officials that I've ever known. Not all politicians are given this much love by the people, only few are blessed and Sec. Robredo is definitely fit to be given this mass tribute for he was an instrument of change. A true servant. We are mourning the loss of a great politician, son and father but may we be enlightened with his beliefs for our country's future.  It's a great loss to the Filipino people having just been introduced to a man who could have given politics a new form, it's true form, serving the Filipino people.

To quote Mr. Jesse Robredo on his agenda for Philippine Government
"It's not enough for a government official to be good. The system or the institution has to force him to be good."

He died on his way back home. A place where he's supposed to be the loving father that he is. He just wanted to be back for his daughter, for his family. A family that will never get to see him again. He wanted to be in the place where he began dreaming of change and made it. A place where insurmountable respect and love is due him. The very cradle in which he lived happily. The place he left for the sake of our country. A place, a destination, where he so longed to be back again but he never reached. 

As I look back at the conversations I had with my mom, I can still vividly recall the very words that she said to me with the news of Robredo's passing, she said "Maybe Ina, didn't want him to stay any longer. Maybe she didn't want her son's values to be tainted by the sins of this world. Maybe he already served his purpose." I guess she's right. Maybe it's already Sec. Robredo's time to meet the Lord. It's just so saddening to think about the loved ones he left behind especially his beautiful wife and daughters. I wonder what life will bring to them now that Ma'am Leni's husband and her daughter's father is already gone. May the ever-loving INA guide them and be with them in this very difficult stage in their lives and may they find comfort and peace in knowing that Sec. Robredo is already at peace with the Lord God above.

Jessie Manalastas Robredo (May 27, 1958 - August 18, 2012) - A MAN WHO CHANGED US ALL-

Even though I haven't met Sec. Robredo personally, I can't stop myself from writing my own form of tribute to him. My friends even told me that I seemed so affected by the untimely death of this man even if I don't really know him. But for me, I need not to know one personally, to feel that this very person is a great loss. My relatives are Nagueños, through them and from what I've seen, heard and read for myself, I already know what a good man, friend, mayor and especially a father Mr. Robredo was. So in my own way, I give my deepest condolence not only to the Robredo family but to the Filipino nation as well. Salamat Jesse!

For Jessie Robredo's Life and Acheivements: Jesse Robredo Infographic (cr: Team Jesse Robredo) [please click the picture to enlarge]