Robredo patriarch, hero to Jesse, dies

Jose Robredo Sr.

NAGA CITY—Without knowing that his son rose to become a Cabinet member and died in a plane crash in 2012, the father of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo died peacefully Tuesday in a hospital here.

Jose Robredo Sr., 91, died at the Naga Imaging Center Cooperative (NICC) Doctor’s Hospital around 7 p.m. Tuesday, without any idea that Jesse died in the plane crash off the coast of Masbate City on Aug. 18, 2012, according to Naga Councilor Gabriel Bordado, a close friend of Jesse.

Bordado said Jose, who was a copra trader, was Jesse’s political guide since Jesse entered politics in 1989 and remained to be so until 2007.

Jose, blinded by a degenerative eye illness, has been bedridden since 2010, Jesse’s last term as mayor of Naga.

He said even Jesse’s mother, Marcelina, who died on Dec. 31, 2013 at the age of 86, was

also not informed about the death of Jesse.

Jose Sr. is survived by daughters Dr. Joselyn Austria, 60; Dr. Josephine Bondoc, 53; Jeane Tan, 55; and son Jose Jr., 58; and 10 grandchildren. Jose Sr.’s body lies at the

Funeraria Imperial here.

Interment will be on Jan. 26 after Mass at 9 a.m. at the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

Rep. Leni Robredo, Jesse’s widow, expressed grief at the death of Jose Sr.

She described her father-in-law as “the most amazing person” she knew.

“He had been blind for practically most of his adult life but that did not stop him from doing things normal people could, and even more,” Leni said.

She recalled that when she and Jesse moved in with Jesse’s parents in the first few years of their marriage, Jose Sr. built their bed and did carpentry work on what was to be their bedroom.

When their eldest daughter, Aika, was born, Leni recalled Jose Sr. built a study table for her even though Aika would go to school many more years later.

Leni said during her and Jessie’s stay in Jessie’s parents, Jose Sr. did the laundry.

She said when Jesse was a new mayor, Jose Sr. would knock on their bedroom door at

6 a.m. every day to wake Jesse up and egg him to be in the mayor’s office before everyone else.

Jose Sr., Leni said, was Jesse’s biggest critic. “Jess was afraid of no one except him,” said Leni.