“People see the best in him during the worst of times. He is always the last man on the street during typhoons, making sure that people are safe, and the first one to shovel the mud out of the city after the floods…
“No deed is too small nor too big if it makes other people’s burden lighter and their lives better; … greatness of spirit can be achieved not through wealth, power or popularity but by living your life with quiet dignity and by becoming a man for others. By his example, I have been truly inspired to make a difference….”
- Jessica Marie Robredo, then a 15 year old high school student in her prize-winning essay on her father in 2003.
Jesse Robredo’s death is a tragic loss, and we will miss him immensely as a rare public servant who served his country with uncommon dedication and integrity demonstrating that good governance is possible with the meaningful participation of people.
Before taking over the helm of the department of interior and local government in 2010, Jesse Robredo served as mayor of Naga City in the southern Bicol region for close to two decades transforming a teeming third-class city into an outstanding urban centre recognised by numerous awards such as the UN Public Service Award, the Habitat for Humanity Best Practices for Human Settlements, and the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service.
Jesse Robredo, I believe, will best be remembered for a life well lived, providing witness to the youth that public service is a public trust, that good governance begins with little steps, that taking on the challenge of reforming local government and the police are never-ending tasks, that peace is possible – one that is just and lasting -- even if takes a lifetime to achieve.
Jesse’s journey is an eloquent reminder to a successor generation of peace advocates that peace can only be sustained if government works with people from the ground up, if the voices of people are heard and heeded, if justice is served without fear or favour, if dialogue across the political divide is encouraged and peace pursued relentlessly.
Jesse was an uncommon political leader, persuasive and modest in his ways, confident and competent, a man with ideas but with his feet on the ground recognizing that the national begins with the local. I recall a quiet conversation: change takes time, he said; it can be done but we have to be ready to work hard and dirty our hands, and to think always of the next generation.
Jesse will live on: his example, his ideas, his quiet courage and his confidence in the successor generation. I and my colleagues among peace advocates in civil society and at Alert thank you for your singular presence in public life – your gift to those whom you continue to inspire, determined to accomplish work you have begun but which remains unfinished.
