Rep. Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Thirty years ago, Rep. Leni Gerona Robredo was a fresh Economics graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman, and was just about to meet the man who would become her husband.
“[Martial law] ang parang political awakening ko,” the vice presidential candidate said in an interview at the Aquino-Diokno Memorial at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. “Mula noong namatay si Ninoy, very active na talaga ako noong nasa UP pa ako… Timing iyong pag graduate ko kasi iyon din ang Edsa (revolution).”
Robredo, who is a daughter of the late Naga City Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio Gerona, had initially planned to go straight to law school after graduating from the state university. But she said the Edsa revolution made her want to enter public service.
Robredo then got accepted at the Bicol River Basin Development Program (BRBDP) in Naga City, where she met her husband Jesse.
She passed the bar exam in 1997 and later worked at the Public Attorney’s Office as a human rights lawyer where she provided free legal assistance to poor litigants.
Her husband, the interior secretary whom Roxas succeeded, died in 2012 in a plane crash in Masbate.
Her widowhood and sudden political involvement make comparisons with the late President Corazon Aquino only natural. President Benigno Aquino III, Cory’s only son, compared the two of them on the day Robredo accepted the challenge to become the Liberal Party’s vice presidential bet in the May elections.
“They were both suddenly widowed. They were both previously seen as mere housewives, but were eventually called to lead,” President Aquino said.
The LP bets’ campaign rallies in different provinces will not be complete without the symbols of People Power—the “Laban” sign, the yellow ribbon, and the song “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo” composed after the 1986 uprising.
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