Vice President Leni Robredo speaks to volunteers during Monday’s visit to Dipolog City. PHOTO BY GUALBERTO LAPUT
NAGA CITY, Philippines — Before she starts her presidential campaign on Tuesday, Vice President Leni Robredo made a trip to several areas in Naga City — including the Universidad de Sta. Isabel (USI) where she graduated high school from.
But while the trip to USI provided nostalgia for Robredo and even with the seas of pink welcoming her, the Vice President still expressed her concerns on whether she was making her alma mater proud.
“So from 1993, to 2012, ang pino-problema ko lang parking. ‘Pag late na natatapos ‘yong aking mga hearing, wala na akong parking sa tapat, at magpa-park ako sa napaka-layo para mag-sundo sa aking mga anak, napaka-simple lang ng buhay noon,” Robredo told the audience which was composed of students, faculty, and nuns from USI.
(The only problem was parking. When I finished my hearings late, I don’t have a parking space in front, I need to drive far to get a space and fetch my children.)
“Now when I became a public servant already, parating ang wish ko, sana hindi ko naman kayo mapahiya. Sana proud kayo sa akin,” she added.
Robredo however assured the USI community that if they consider her a good person and public servant, the same trait lies within them as they came from the same educational system.
“And wala naman akong pinagkaiba sa bawat isa sa inyo, siguro ‘yong kaibahan lang, nabigyan ako ng pagkakataon manilbihan, pero ‘yong mga values na dala-dala ko, ‘yon din ang dala-dala niyo. ‘Yong mga pinaniniwalaan ko, ‘yon din ‘yong pinaniniwalaan niyo,” she said.
(I am not different from anyone of you, the only difference may be is that I have been given the chance to serve, but the values I still bring with me.)
“‘Yong husay ko — kung mahusay man ako — gano’n din kayo kahusay, kasi isang institusyon lang naman ‘yong humubog sa ating lahat. And you know, over the course of my stint as a public servant, the Daughters of Charity and the Vincentian family has always made me proud,” she added.
(The expertise that I may have, you also have that, because we are from only one institution, which shaped us.)
Robredo has been connected with the USI for most of her life: her late mother used to be a professor for the college, which she said led to her spending a huge time in campus even when she was young.
The Vice President said her late husband, former Naga mayor and Interior secretary Jesse Robredo, at one point taught at USI. Then their three daughters also took their primary and secondary education at the same institution.
Robredo will be starting her campaign for the 2022 presidential elections on Tuesday, visiting one of the Angat Buhay beneficiary villages in Lupi town of Camarines Sur. She will be joined by the following members of her senatorial slate:
- Senator Risa Hontiveros
- Senator Leila de Lima
- Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV
- Former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat
- Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno
- Author and lawyer Alex Lacson
- Labor leader Sonny Matula
- Senator Richard Gordon
After her visit to Lupi, the caravan would move through several Camarines Sur towns, which will culminate at a mass in Naga City Cathedral and the proclamation rally at Plaza Quezon in Naga.
READ: VP Robredo to kick off campaign for presidency in Camarines Sur on Tuesday, Feb. 8