Naga remembers Jesse with ‘Tsinelas Walk,’ exhibit

PICTURES of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo are exhibited at SM City Cebu. LITO TECSON / CDN

NAGA CITY—A year after losing a  well-loved Nagueño, the city of Naga commemorated the first  death anniversary of Jesse Robredo, who was mayor here for 19 years before he became interior secretary, with a parade of tsinelas (slippers)-clad constituents and an exhibit of some of his 3,000 plus images taken  by different photographers in this city.

Some 500 people gathered early morning of Aug. 18, Sunday, to accompany Jesse’s widow and now Rep. Leni Robredo, their children Aika, Jillian and Patricia,  Interior  Secretary Mar Roxas,  Mayor John Bongat and other local leaders in a procession from Plaza Quezon in the city center to Eternal Gardens where Jesse’s remains lie.

The “Tsinelas Walk,” as the parade was called, was participated in by various organizations, including the biking and running buddies of JMR, as people here call Jesse.

Danilo Sta. Maria, one of JMR’s biking buddies, said taking the procession was his way of remembering the early morning runs he shared with the late Robredo.

Neil Imperial, also a biker, said that seeing all the many Nagueños in slippers was a fitting commemoration of how JMR lived his life as a public servant and a person.

“The tsinelas is a symbol of humility and comfort, just like him. Humble and comfortable to be with,” he said.

Randy Vic Villaflor, JMR’s photographer since his second term as mayor of Naga City, said the former interior secretary was not an easy subject to take photo of as he was always on the move but was an easy person to get along with.

Villaflor has six DVDs of all of JMR’s pictures in his porfolio. It contained more than 2,000 images.

Villaflor’s father, who was also JMR’s photographer until he died in 2005, also had thousands of pictures of JMR.

Villaflor’s images were set up with other pictures of JMR at   Plaza Jose Rizal of Naga to showcase his life as a local public leader.

The Tsinelas Walk was followed by a tree-planting activity sponsored by JMR’s fraternity Tau Gamma Phi/Sigma around  Mt. Isarog Natural Park.