On her last day in office as vice president, Leni Robredo recorded her last trip to her office, the Quezon City Reception House. It was June 29, 2022.
She was in a 4-car convoy from her residence, a short drive away. She recalled her first convoy in 2016 as vice president. That convoy then was headed to her first meeting with the Presidential Security Group (PSG). The PSG had relayed instructions if she could come in a convoy of 8 cars. Her response was surprising.
Instead of requesting more cars for her convoy, she bargained for less. Eight cars can stop motorists and create traffic jams. Finally, the PSG conceded — she could come in the most minimum of convoys in their books, just 4 cars. That was the first sign that this was a government VIP who did not want the trappings of power. It was a clear message that she could perform her office in the barest of minimums.
Her convoys were also entitled to an accompanying ambulance. She didn’t want one. “Manghihiram pa kami” (We will only borrow), which to her meant deprivation of ambulance services for ordinary citizens who needed it more.
The Quezon City Reception House (QCRH) was the former Boracay Mansion of deposed president Joseph Estrada for his mistress Laarni Enriquez. The Sandiganbayan forfeited it in 2005 in favor of the Quezon City government after Estrada’s conviction for plunder.
Saving taxpayers’ money
Why did Robredo choose it as rental space for her office? She wanted government to save on expenses. The Coconut Palace at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex was offered to her. “It was huge, and the rent was expensive.” Saving on taxpayers’ money was top of her mind. (Note: Robredo’s successor Sara Duterte wanted to acquire the Coconut Palace from the Government Service Insurance System as the permanent home of the vice president. During the vice presidency of Jejomar Binay who held office there, the monthly rent was nearly P500,000.)
That last day of Robredo in the former Boracay Mansion of Erap, her vice presidential security and protection group made a most unusual request. Robredo balked at the request, but since it was her last day, she obliged. Her security wanted to have her last convoy using “wang-wang” (police car sirens). She had never used wang-wang in her six years in office.
She gave them a compromise: the convoy will exit the 11th Street gate of the complex to enter again through its 10th Street. It was just a short ride, albeit a mock convoy, but her security had wanted to honor her. Inside her official vehicle, Robredo gasped “Oh, my God” several times, scandalized at such display of entitlement, however brief. The New Manila neighborhood was purely residential and she was worried she might disturb the neighbors’ peace.
When Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami) hit the Bicol region last October 25, Naga City became a sea of desolation. About 30% of the city was inundated by floodwaters affecting 70% of its residents. Residents were trapped on their roofs. Cars piled up on top of each other, if the rampage did not carry them away.
There were power outages. At the initial count, three people died, some injured. There was no food. Survivors carried only the clothes on their backs.
The search, rescue and relief effort needed massive government attention. The responder to that attention did not come from government. It had to come from a private citizen, Leni Robredo, who was not even city mayor of Naga.
Her Angat Buhay non-profit organization went down to work on Day 1. It was a magnet. Immediately, 1,200 volunteers a day would respond.
One day later, the history of Philippine disaster response broke records. Robredo and her partner NGOs raised money more than government could pour in as fast: P22,800,543.87 through the Kaya Natin Movement, P3,397,046.35 through the Tanging Yaman Foundation, P3,325,643.42 through the Angat Bayanihan Volunteers, P23,043,027.52 total value of in-kind donations, providing 67,579 families and individuals with relief good, hygiene kits, and hot meals.
When flood survivors appealed for fresh underwear, Angat Buhay sounded the call. Companies donated. As we write, more than two weeks later, Robredo initiated training for volunteers on navigating rescue boats.
Was Robredo merely projecting herself because she is running for Naga City mayor in the 2025 local elections? When another super typhoon had hit northern Luzon between October and November, the same grim scenario met the people of Cagayan Valley: thousands had to be evacuated and needed relief. Again, Robredo responded.
Leni’s logic
Cagayan Valley was nothing new to her. In 2020 when she was vice president, Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) had hit northern Luzon in November. Floodwaters submerged large swathes of Cagayan province. Residents on their rooftops were crying “Rescue! Rescue!”
“For several hours, Robredo’s Twitter account became the main source of information for the massive flooding in the province. She relayed updates from government responders, who were battling the elements to reach Linao East.” This was the village in Tuguegarao city where cries for rescue were the most desperate.
She would later dispatch an OVP rescue team to Cagayan to track down every person in Linao East on their rescue list.
I like the way Rappler’s Mara Cepeda wrote of the Robredo response then. “The logic was simple for the Vice President: When people are calling for help, their leaders should tell them that they have been heard, that help is on the way, and that everything would be done to save them.”
Who has the credibility to deliver that message to a disaster-hit populace? Only the government official who does not demand entitlements, who counts every penny of taxpayers’ money to go back to the taxpayers, and who is not in government for political adulation.
We do not stop documenting the filth and corruption of those who rob us of good government. We need to see the contrast: Leni Robredo is one of the most impossible personae of Philippine politics. To raise up again one in her likeness may take decades. – Rappler.com
