Thrust into politics, Leni Robredo recalls transformation

Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

NAGA CITY—Her world has been turned around. Her low-profile life suddenly became a very public one, nine months after her husband was killed in a plane crash.

Leni Robredo, widow of the late Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo, recounted her amazing transformation to some 2,000 supporters on Friday night at Plaza Quezon here during the miting de avance of the local Liberal Party (LP).

“There are so many things that I did not expect to happen that have happened. There are so many things I thought I was not capable of that I have done. I thought I would not last in the campaign but, as you know, the elections are just three nights away (tatlong tulog nalang),” she said, as the crowd broke into thunderous applause.

She said she felt the spirit of her late husband helping her to overcome the challenges and give her the energy to continue her campaign.

Since October last year she had had to be up at 5 a.m. and often go home at 2 a.m in order to complete her round of 186 barangays in seven towns and one city (Naga) that comprise the third district of Camarines Sur.

Robredo is running against Nelly Villafuerte, wife of outgoing Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

Jesse Robredo was once allied with the Villafuertes, who are relatives, but they had a falling out.

“There is no substitute for diligence,” Leni Robredo quoted her late husband as saying.

Naga City accounts for one-third of the votes in the third district of Camarines Sur, with 79,743 registered voters of the total 242,062.

Pancho Alvarez, a volunteer campaigner for Robredo, said she had visited all the 186 barangays—not once but twice since last year.

Alvarez assessed the campaign as “OK so far” but noted that there was “rampant vote buying.” They are gearing up for “vote protection” strategies.

Aside from the formal filing of cases, vote protection means  assuring their supporters that Leni represents “new politics,” he said. “People will choose her to bring change.”

In some of the towns, volunteer women supporters in yellow shirts organized “The Lakas ng Kababaihan” to campaign for Leni.

Alvarez said Robredo campaigned without the usual political frills and giveaways.  He recalled the challenge of having to explain to the people who were expecting giveaways the kind of “bare politics” they were espousing.

He noted that people in urban areas tended to be more materially demanding than those in rural areas.

Robredo rued that amid their efforts for clean and honest elections, massive vote buying continued to be reported.

She announced her filing of criminal and disqualification cases for alleged vote buying against her opponent Nelly, and her husband, who is running for governor.

“Our message is that we will not tolerate this kind of politics,  especially in Naga City,” she said.