Jesse Robredo gave Leni ‘leftover’ roses on Valentine’s Day

TABACO CITY, Philippines—At 51, Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo still turns heads.

But the running mate of LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas has no intention of replacing Jesse Robredo in her heart, she said on the eve of Valentine’s Day.

“In our 25 years together, he never gave me a headache,” she said of her late husband. “If I look for a [new] love life, he might just give me a headache. So I’d rather not.”

The Camarines Sur representative said she will miss the “leftover” roses Jesse used to give her on Valentine’s Day.

These were the remainder of what he regularly gave the female employees every Feb. 14 at the Naga City Hall, where Jesse served as mayor for 10 years.

“No matter how busy he was at work, he would find the time to buy and give out the flowers to the employees. He would give the remainder to me,” Leni recalled.

This would be her third Valentine’s Day without Jesse, she said.

The then interior secretary died in a plane crash in August 2012. He left behind his wife and their three daughters—Aika, Tricia and Jillian.

Known to be a very private person, Leni, a lawyer and economics graduate, was thrust into a political career after her husband’s death, yielding to the public clamor to run in Camarines Sur’s third district. TVJ