What can the public expect from a Robredo presidency?
Her spokesman Barry Gutierrez said that Vice President Leni Robredo will continue to visit far-flung areas to extend assistance, just like what she has always done even before she joined politics.
Vice President Leni Robredo (OVP)
“‘Yung ganung klaseng serbisyo na ang tutok kung saan ang nangangailangan, kahit gaano kalayo, kahit gaano kaliblib, makakaabot kasi ‘yun talaga ang kanyang pananaw sa pagseserbisyo bilang isang bahagi ng ating pamahalaan (That kind of service where the focus is on the needy, no matter how far, no matter how remote, the aid will come because that’s her view of service as a part of our government),” he said on Sunday, October 31, over dzXL.
This was his remark the weekend after Robredo visited at least two remote islands in her home region of Bicol where she was met with supporters clad in pink shirts and waving pink banners.
Gutierrez said that Robredo was never a traditional politician since her background as a non-government organization (NGO) lawyer is to help those in need.
“Sanay siya na dun siya pupunta talaga sa kung nasaan ‘yung mga tao kahit gaano pa kalayo (She’s used to going to where there are people who need her no matter how far),” he added.
He recalled that in November 2016, the Vice President, who just won that same year in the elections, went on a boat ride to and from Agutaya, a 5th-class island municipality in northern Palawan.
Robredo had to walk half a day to reach the mountain village and even rode a boat for five to six hours to reach the people in need.
When she reached the village, there were not that many people there, Gutierrez said, but that wasn’t her motivation because she just wanted to help others.
“Iyon ang kanyang perspektibo at ‘yan ang kanyang uri ng paglilingkod, mula nung hindi pa siya pumapasok ng politika hanggang naging kongresista at tinuloy ngayon hanggang siya ay bise presidente (That’s her perspective and the kind of service, even before she wasn’t in politics yet and until she became congresswoman and she continued that until she became vice president),” he added.
Before running for Congress in 2013, Robredo worked as a volunteer lawyer for Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panlegal (SALIGAN), Inc. and with the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).
She was supposed to be appointed as a regional trial court judge but decided instead to run for Congress after the death of her husband, then Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.
