Leni Robredo gets down to brass tacks of legislative work

Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA—After toppling the candidate of an entrenched Camarines Sur dynasty, the province’s new congressional representative, Leni Robredo, said Wednesday the more arduous part of the job—actual work in Congress—was just about to begin.

Robredo, a neophyte politician, visited the House of Representatives complex in Quezon City on Wednesday to prepare for her new job and familiarize herself with what she would need as a member of the legislature, telling reporters that she intended to work hard as soon as she has formally assumed office.

Robredo, who visited the House secretary general, said her main purpose was to determine how many staff members she would need and what qualifications they should have, since she would need to hire them before her term begins in July.

“If I want to work really hard, I have to choose the right people,” she told reporters.

She added that she wanted to prepare early for her new job.

“The more difficult part is to do the job well,” she said.

Robredo, a lawyer by profession, said she intends to file bills to strengthen local governments, which was the expertise of her late husband, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, who perished in a plane crash last year. Jesse was also a Ramon Magsaysay awardee for government service in recognition of his service as Naga mayor.

“I have a strong belief that local governments have boundless potential. I want to focus on that, to push them to excel, because that is the only way we can guarantee the efficient delivery of basic services,” she said.

But she has yet to decide which committees to join. She said she would first peruse the information packet that she obtained from the House.

Robredo is expected to join the majority in the House of Representatives.

She ran under the President’s Liberal Party and was up against Nelly Villafuerte, wife of outgoing Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

The Villafuertes, though now fragmented, have long held sway in Camarines Sur.