Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo’s daughters Aika, Patricia and Jillian, his brother Butch wait for the honor guards to carry the flag draped coffin of Secretary Robredo inside a waiting hearse in Villamor Airbase enroute to Malacanang on Friday. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
NAGA CITY, Philippines –Intentionally delivering light and anecdote-filled response during the necrological service late Sunday night, the second daughter of late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo vowed to pursue her father’s legacy with revelations that portend of a future in politics in this city.
Patricia “Tricia” Robredo, 18, a pre-med student at the Ateneo de Manila University, portrayed her father as a family man first and a responsible public official who rallied the people to fight for good governance by looking inside for the heroes within them.
“Sec, mayor, pogi, bok, bright boy, Papa… it will not stop in the Facebook, Twitter or TV our pledge to continue what you have started. I will be the one to take care of Mama,” Patricia vowed, which earned applause from her audience of local government officials and hundreds of Nagueños listening and watching her through screen monitors outside the administrative building of the City Hall here.
She assured that they, the three daughters of Robredo, will come home to Naga City to continue the legacy of their father once they have become successful in their careers in life, earning for her a louder applause from her audience.
At the end of her 25-minute speech in Bicol, Patricia asked her audience to stand up and execute a salute to Robredo, who heaped accolades and recognitions from local, national and international institutions for his work in government service.
Meanwhile, Patricia revealed that her youngest sister Jillian, 13, after confirming that her father died in a plane crash last August 18, had asked her mother Leni how old Kris (Aquino) was when her father, martyred Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino died.
This was because Jillian, she said, also wants to be become a movie star like Kris Aquino.
Patricia portrayed Robredo as a loving father to his daughters who tutored and provided them the littlest of things like securing a ticket for a basketball game.
Her father, she said, was also a loving husband, who loved to make surprises for their mother.
She recalled one instance when her father told her mother by phone that he was coming home to Naga from Manila the next day, when in fact he was already on a bus, together with his two daughters, on their way to their hometown.
While serving as mayor of Naga City, one incident she would never forget involving her father happened when she was still in elementary school, Patricia said.
She said her father–barefoot, in pajamas and attached to an intravenous bottlen because he was sick– officiated the marriage rites for a couple in their house.
Patricia said her father also avoided saying something bad to other people when he got angry and stopped himself by biting his fingers.
“Anggot na ngani siya, kinukulugan pa an sadiri nya (He is already angry and yet he still hurt himself),” she said.
Patricia remembered how her father would brush aside the risks he faced while doing his job in the government.
And amid the real danger he encountered like the incident in Maguindanao when a bomb exploded when the convoy he was riding passed by, Robredo would just kid about it, Patrici said.
Patricia thanked the people for the prayers and overwhelming moral support the family has been receiving, as well as the fishermen and divers who helped recover her father’s body in the crash site.
She said the family did not expect the outpouring of support but was happy to note that many people loved their father.
Patricia said she hoped everyone would continue the fight of her father and to see a “Robredo” in everyone who cared for him.