Leni Robredo triumphs over political dynasty

By Juan Escandor Jr.
Bicol Mail

NAGA CITY—To fight against political  dynasty  was  her battle cry and in the end of her campaign she triumphs to start a new beginning in politics guided by the ideals of her husband.

Preparing to send off her daughters to the airport after a grueling night, Leni Robredo, 48, still feels the campaign fever a day after the elections but her victory is over political dynasty when she won landslide against a well-entrenched family in Camarines Sur.

Leni is yet to be proclaimed by the Commission on Election Tuesday morning but unofficial results showed she won in 181 barangays  out of the 186 barangays in the third district of Camarines Sur represented in Congress by Luis Robredo Villafuerte, who fielded his wife Nelly to replace him after nine years in service as congressman.

She did not expect to win with a very big margin while in her mind is how to personally thank her army of volunteers who rolled out her campaign to victory with very limited resources coming from donations. She estimated she won about 80 percent of the votes cast in the third district of Camarines Sur and she is happy with it.

Leni was grateful she is surrounded by young, idealistic and creative volunteers who have sacrificed and took leave from their work to campaign for her.

“In my view, it (her victory) is a big message that the people rejected political dynasty. In the

beginning, it was a very difficult fight because I am against a well-entrenched family who had been in power since 1978. I know many people have debt of gratitude to them while the majority of barangay officials are with them. But the people have decided,” she said.

Leni said her late husband, Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo who died in a plane crash last year, contributed so much to her victory which was powered by volunteerism.

“Napakalaking bagay yong kanyang (Jesse’s) role sa akin panalo, palagay ko the goodwill he left behind was really my political capital. People trusted me more, mas open ako tinanggap  ng maraming tao, because of him. Palagay ko they see me as an extension of who he was as a public servant,” shereveals.

Leni recalls that her political allies were worried they could not gather people because they have nothing to give to the people like  what her rival did giving away treats. “I always remind them that we can gather people even without giving anything to them because we did it in Naga, but after the campaign, they (political allies) were grateful because we have practiced what we preached. There is an expectation of change,” she said.

She also sees her victory as rejection of patronage politics.

Leni, 48, who studied law at the University of Nueva Caceres in 1992 and took the bar exam and became a lawyer in 1997, was a hesitant politician after spending most of her married life behind her popular husband Jesse.

It was when her husband died unexpectedly in the plane crash that she was thrust into the public eye with her quiet dignity and demeanor while in grief.

A daughter of a long-time regional trial court judge in Naga City, Antonio Gerona, Leni works quietly with civil society serving women and children in distress and farmers struggling to own their farms.

With the death of her husband, she became the figure head of Jesse’s allies and supporters in Naga City even as she vowed then that she will not enter politics for the sake of her children, Aika, 25, a government employee, Patricia, 18, a college student, and Jillian, 13, a high school student.

Despite her previous pronouncements that she will not run for elective position in government but the judiciary, Leni was forced to accept the demand of Jesse’s supporters and allies on the brink of fragmentation when Jose Anselmo Cadiz filed his certificate of candidacy for congressman in the third district.

On Oct. 5, the last day of filing of COC and the day the Liberal Party (LP) here officially announced the candidate for congressman in the third district in the person of Vice Mayor Gabriel Bordado, her supporters marched to their house to ask her to run in order to preserve the unity of Jesse’s political supporters and allies.

Indeed, Leni’s decision to take on the challenge, amid jeers from Rep. Luis R. Villafuerte who said it was scripted, has reunited the LP here with Cadiz withdrawing his COC for congressman and refiling for the gubernatorial race.

Incidentally, when she joined the congressional race the political rivalry between Jesse and Luis continues even beyond the death of her husband.

Jesse, who was groomed by his uncle Luis to become mayor of Naga City in 1988 after he was recruited to serve the administration of Cory Aquino as project director of the Bicol River Basin Development Project, charted his political career after falling out with his uncle in 1992.

Luis fielded Pura Villafuerte Magtuto, his sister and a whole slate for local elective positions but Jesse and his candidates prevailed. Since then, Jesse and all of his chosen candidates for local positions in Naga City continued to prevail until the 2010 elections.

Leni was decidedly taking on where her husband left as she battles the Villafuertes in the polls by seriously pushing new politics in Camarines Sur based on volunteerism, good governance principles, and transparency.

On May 10, she filed a disqualification case against Luis and her opponent Nelly at the Commission on Elections provincial office on allegations of vote buying.

With  her victory,  Leni said   she will pursue the cases  against the Villafuertes to its resolution.

She said she was advised by some of her supporters not to pursue the vote buying cases against the Villafuertes because she will be bombarded with cases in return and her husband would definitely be dragged out from his grave.

“But I think it serves the fight (against political dynasty and patronage),” Leni said.

Countering  the    allegations of vote buying, Luis also accused Leni of vote buying allegedly  using government   agencies like the Department of Agriculture  and Department of Social Welfare Development and fund from international sources given to her by Fil-Am millionaire Loida Lewis.

On Election Day, Nelly told the local media here that she also filed vote-buying rap against Leni.

“I am not bothered by the case filed against me because my biggest weapon is the truth. The people know that I don’t have the capability to buy votes or give groceries in exchange of votes,” she quipped.

In the rundown of the campaign, Leni did not buy airtime except for eight spots in television donated by a supporter.

As representative, she vowed to continue the legacy of Jesse by legislating the systems her husband started when he was mayor of Naga City and then, secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Leni wants to legislate the efforts done by her husband in which for now are still department orders that lessen corruption in government, promote transparency and accountability like the Seal of Good Governance and Performance Incentive.

• May 16th 2013
• Posted in News, Politics
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