The declaration aims to remind public officials that “there is a need to immortalize the ideals and works of the late (Interior) Secretary (Jesse) Robredo” to promote good governance and ethical leadership, said SP member Eleuper Martinez, Committee on Laws and Good Governance chair and the resolution’s proponent.
Robredo died in a plane crash off the coast of Masbate on August 18 last year.
In observing the Robredo Week this year, Martinez, a self-confessed Robredo fan, said he will distribute 180 pairs of slippers to elementary pupils in Brgy. Tugas, Mambusao town, on August 16.
Martinez said it will symbolize Robredo’s iconic “tsinelas leadership” — performing one’s duties and obligations as a public servant, even in slippers.
The observance will also “remind us of not just how Robredo died but also how he ignited passion in each one of us to do our own small share in serving our fellow Capiceños,” the SP member said.
The provincial government has not yet scheduled activities for the observance as of this writing.
Prior to his death, Robredo was the Department of Interior and Local Government secretary since July 9, 2010.
He was also the mayor of Naga City for 19 years — from 1988 to June 30, 1998, and from 2001 to June 30, 2010.
On November 26 last year, he was posthumously awarded a Quezon Service Cross Medal, a recognition made to honor the late President Manuel Quezon and the unsurpassed service to the Filipino people. (PN/JOSE ARSENIO QUINZON)
