NAGA CITY, Philippines — The father of Camarines Sur third district Representative Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo passed away Thursday morning, October 10, the representative herself confirmed in a statement Thursday evening.
Retired Bicol Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio N. Gerona Sr. passed away at around 8:45 a.m. Thursday while Representative Robredo, widow of former Department of Internal and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, was in Canada for a speaking engagement.
Robredo, in her statement, said she had just alighted from her plane in Calgary, Canada when she learned of her father’s demise at the Mother Seton Hospital in Naga City. He was 80.
Robredo said her father was earlier confined in the same hospital and discharged a few weeks ago but was rushed back to it Wednesday night, October 9.
Robredo said the immediate cause of her father’s death was cardio pulmonary arrest, or heart and lung failure.
“I have been constantly visiting him during my weekly trips to Naga to attend to my constituents in the district. Last Saturday, I told him to be strong so I can take him with me on my next trip back to Canada,” Robredo’s statement said.
Robredo said that she would be boarding a plane back to the Philippines as soon as possible to be with her elderly mother, Sally, and to attend to her father’s wake and burial needs.
She said she would be coming home together with her two other siblings, Antonio Jr. and Maria Lourdes, both of whom have been residing in Canada.
Judge Gerona was a practicing lawyer for 19 years before he was appointed judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch II on July 9, 1980. He also served as Judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 28 in Naga City since January 30, 1987, according to information released by Robredo’s congressional district office here.
Gerona also taught Law at the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City since 1995.