It is a tragic and senseless death for the country. The mortal body of Jesse Manalastas Robredo, Secretary of the Interior and Local Government of the Philippines has been found about 800 meters from the shore of Masbate City at a depth of 180 feet. Who is Secretary Jesse Robredo? Why is the whole country mourning for this man?
From his DILG page, it is written that he was a multi-awarded local chief (Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service in 2000) executive of Naga City and under his
leadership, Naga has transformed into the premier city of Bicol Region. Further, he is an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters in Public
Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previous to that, he completed his
Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines,
finishing at the top of his class as university and college scholar. He
is an alumnus of Naga Parochial School for his elementary education and Ateneo De Naga for his secondary schooling. He then went to De La Salle University, for his
undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and
Mechanical Engineering.
But more than all that, Jesse Robredo was a dedicated, honest, humble and transformative leader. He made himself accessible 24/7 to those who needed him especially the poor and disenfranchised. He never ran out of energy or if he did, he never showed it. His concern for others and commitment to service was unmeasurable. When he was on his last term, he could have endorsed his wife, a lawyer to take his place and run for the mayoralty post in Naga but, he never did. He espoused meritocracy and professionalism in public service. To elucidate this further, please read the citation for the Ramon Magsaysay Award that he was conferred with in 2000.
CITATION for Jesse Robredo
Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 2000, Manila, Philippines
It is sad but true. Democratic government is not necessarily good government. Too often, elections yield power to the few, not the many. Injustices linger beneath the rhetoric of equality. Corruption and incompetence go on and on. Voters, alas, do not always choose wisely. And yet, in Asia and the world at large, much is at risk when democracy founders, because democracy is the hope of so many. Jesse Manalastas Robredo entered Philippine politics at a time when hope was high. As mayor of Naga City from 1988 to 1998 he demonstrated that democratic government can also be good government.
In the wake of his country's People Power Revolution in 1986, Jesse Robredo responded to President Corazon Aquino's call to public service. He abandoned his executive position at San Miguel Corporation to head the Bicol River Basin Development Program in Naga, his hometown. In 1988, he stood for election as mayor and won by a slim margin. He was twenty-nine.
Once the queen city of the Bicol region, Naga in 1989 was a dispirited provincial town of 120,000 souls. Traffic clogged its tawdry business district and vice syndicates operated at will. City services were fitful at best. Meanwhile, thousands of squatters filled Naga's vacant lands, despite the dearth of jobs in the city's stagnant economy. Indeed, Naga's revenues were so low that it had been downgraded officially from a first-class to a third-class city.
Robredo began with a strike against patronage. He introduced a merit-based system of hiring and promotion and reorganized city employees on the basis of aptitude and competence. He then moved against local vice lords, ridding Naga of gambling and smut. Next, he relocated the bus and jeepney terminals outside the city center, ending gridlock and spurring new enterprises at the city's edge. In partnership with business, he revitalized Naga's economy. Public revenues rose and by 1990 Naga was a first-class city again. Robredo's constituents took heart and reelected him.
Spurning bodyguards, Robredo moved freely among the people. By enlisting the support and active assistance of Naga's NGOs and citizens, he improved public services dramatically. He established day-care centers in each of Naga's twenty-seven districts and added five new high schools. He built a public hospital for low-income citizens. He set up a dependable twenty-four-hour emergency service. He constructed a network of farm-to-market roads and provided clean and reliable water systems in Naga's rural communities. He launched programs for youth, farmers, laborers, women, the elderly, and the handicapped -- drawing thousands into civic action in the process. No civic deed was too small, he told the people, including the simple act of reporting a broken street lamp. He sometimes swept the streets himself.
Consistently, Robredo prioritized the needs of the poor. Through his Kaantabay sa Kauswagan (Partners in Development) program, over forty-five hundred once-homeless families moved to home-lots of their own. They became part of Naga's revival. So did a revitalized city government. Applying techniques from business, Robredo raised performance, productivity, and morale among city employees. As a culture of excellence overtook the culture of mediocrity at City Hall, Naga's businesses doubled and local revenues rose by 573 percent.
Reelected without opposition in 1995, Robredo urged the Naga City Council to enact a unique Empowerment Ordinance. This created a People's Council to institutionalize the participation of NGOs and people's organizations in all future municipal deliberations. When obliged by law to step down after his third term, the popular Robredo made no effort to entrench his family. His advice to would-be leaders? "You have to have credibility."
In electing Jesse Robredo to receive the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the board of trustees recognizes his giving credence to the promise of democracy by demonstrating that effective city management is compatible with yielding power to the people. (source: Rappler.com)
Last Saturday, Secretary Robledo went to Cebu to attend a function of the Philippine National Police. Because it was a long weekend and a chance to spend more time with family, he decided to take a chartered flight straight to Naga instead of taking the regular flight back to Manila. He never made it home. They say that the good die young...I would rather say that the good die young and go to heaven.
Secretary Robredo is an exemplar of a new breed of politicians, the kind whose positive actions speak louder than their words. May his life of unselfish service to the people be the gold standard for all government workers, elected and appointed from hereon onward. Rest in Peace noble man, you so deserve the title "Honorable".
