Aika Robredo has become a household name

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 Until the fatal plane crash of her father, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Jessica Marie “Aika” Robredo has not been in the public eye. She appeared on national TV on the second day of the agonizing three-day wait—waiting for word on her father and his missing plane.

She had presence. She was composed, articulate, self-possessed for someone who was not used to the limelight and public speaking. She made sense beyond her 24 years.

The entire nation took notice.

The massive outpouring of public sympathy and support was what kept the Robredo family going through those dark moments after Robredo’s death in a plane crash off Masbate, his eldest daughter said Saturday.

Aika said the worst time for them were the hours and days when the body of her father still could not be found. However, the support the family received from relatives, friends and the public helped see them through the pain.

“The hardest was the first three days when we still did not know. While we were ready for it, you grieve for something that you didn’t know (for sure) or couldn’t understand,” Aika said in an interview.

“You’re thinking: ‘Wait a minute, why am I sad when it’s still not (confirmed?)’ but at the same time, you know at the back of your head, you knew na wala na talaga [it was over],” she said.

According to Aika, soon after the news broke that her father’s plane was missing, people started streaming into the family compound in Naga City and praying for his rescue.

“That was a big help for us because we realized how many people were actually praying for my dad’s safety. We were thinking that at least if he didn’t survive, with so many people praying for him, he would be in a better place either way,” she said.

The family members were really surprised when they later found out that even people from Mindanao had come to Naga to pay their respects.

“Our orientation ever since was that our Papa was someone who was just not ours. He was someone we shared with others,” she said.

Aika said she was watching a basketball game at Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City, between Ateneo de Manila University and Far Eastern University that fateful afternoon of the plane crash.

“I got a text message from my mother that said, ‘Please call.’ I knew then that something was wrong because when my parents want something, they say ‘Do this … do that,’” she said.

“When I saw the message, I thought, ‘Oh no.’ When I called, my mother told me Papa’s plane could not be found,” she said.

Her mother asked her to tell her younger sister, Trisha, what happened because it would not be right “if she heard it from someone else.”

“I was panicky but my mom was telling me, ‘You know we can’t do anything. You just have to keep praying, praying and praying.’ And I had to face my sister so at least one of us should be calm,” she said.

Aika said she decided to personally break the sad news to her sister to make sure she would be okay.

“I couldn’t do it on the phone. I had to be careful about how she would react so I picked her up from the condo and I told her the news in the car,” she said.

“Afterward we went to the Mt. Carmel church (in Quezon City) to pray because that’s near our home,” she added.

According to Aika, in the first two days after the crash, they were just “letting things happen.”

“People were going to our house. My mom’s friends were there. The Naga City officials were there and the vigil was ongoing as if someone was orchestrating what to do next,” she said.

“Even the food that was being served was also brought by those who came to visit us. For at least the first three days, we were just letting things happen. We were not planning anything. We were not attending to anyone but everyone was there,” she added.

Aika said she told her younger sisters on the second night after the crash to prepare for the worst.

“I told them, you know, we should keep praying but we should be realistic. It’s been more than 24 hours and we still had no news. So while we still hope for the best, you have to manage your expectations,” Aika said.

She said her sisters were sad when she told them this.

“While it was still painful to see the actual steel box coming down from the plane because you know what was inside, maybe it would have been more difficult to accept and react if we hadn’t conditioned ourselves before that maybe that would be (the outcome),” she added.

Aika said it was her mother who was the strongest of all of them. She kept on reminding them that their father was now “in a happy place,” she said.

“She would say Papa is in a happy place and he’s peaceful. It’s okay being sad every now and then but if it stops you from doing what you were supposed to do, maybe even he might be unsettled by that. So, maybe it would be selfish on our part if we would become the reason why he would not be able to move on above,” Aika said.

Aika said there were no plans for anyone from the family to follow their father into politics.

“It should be the last thing in our heads right now. We haven’t talked about it yet but personally, I think it is unlikely for now,” she said.

“You know, even when he was in politics, we had our own lives. We’d only help out during elections, but after that, my mom would go back to her work. We are happy with what we’re doing now,” said the 24-year-old Aika who works for an international oil firm in Manila.

“It does not stop us from serving or doing our part. If the intention to go into politics is to serve, politics is not a requirement. You can serve in many other ways which is also what my father said,” Aika said.

Rodrigo Duterte of Davao is people’s favorite for DILG post

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Who is the people’s choice to replace the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo?

Let’s take a look at the results of an online voting survey conducted by ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna in his “Punto por Punto” segment of the very popular “Umagang Kay Ganda program”:

Davao City Vice Mayor Rody Duterte got 44 percent of the votes from viewers who called, texted or posted their votes on Facebook or Twitter.

Duterte was followed by former Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca, with 22 percent; Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, 9 percent; Manila Mayor Fred Lim, 7 percent; Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, 6 percent; Vice President Jojo Binay, 5 percent; Sen. Ping Lacson, 4 percent; Cavite Rep. Emilio Abaya, 2 percent; and Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, 1 percent.

I called up Rody Duterte Tuesday to ask whether he would accept the DILG post if it was offered to him.

His answer: No!

Here’s a guy who’s very much qualified for the most powerful Cabinet post because of his experience and expertise as a local official, yet, he’s rejecting it.

If I were President Aquino, I would do everything short of kneeling down before Duterte to convince him to accept the position.

* * *

I have witnessed man’s brutality to his fellowman as a police reporter for many years and as host of a public service program on radio that helps the oppressed and the downtrodden.

But nothing comes close to the indignity and oppression suffered by housemaid Bonita A. Baran, 21,  reportedly inflicted on her by  her employers, Reynold and Annaliza Marzan of 75 Las Villas del Cielo, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

Bonita told me the Marzans beat her up every day for small mistakes she made for five years.

The Catanduanes native, who is not even a grade school graduate, has gone blind after her eyes were allegedly gouged by Annaliza.

She showed my staff and I at my radio program “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo” scars on her face, scalp and back allegedly inflicted by the Marzan couple.

The scars were caused by being hit on her lips with a vase, struck with the butt of a gun on her eyelid, hit with hard objects on her head, or a hot iron pressed on her face, she said.

Bonita added that the Marzans made her eat cockroaches a few times.

I thought some employers in the Middle East were brutally cruel—yes, I’ve received many complaints from former maids of these households—but the Marzans are far more cruel.

* * *

Persida Acosta, head of the Department of Justice’s Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), told me that charges of serious physical injuries and serious illegal detention have been filed by her office against the Marzans.

The charges are nonbailable.

Those are not human acts, and if the Marzans are proven guilty, they should rot in jai

Mar Roxas is the new DILG Secretary

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Jesse Robredo as the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is a very tough act to follow.

But Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas has accepted the challenge. He is the next DILG secretary, a highly placed source in Malacañang confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Thursday night. He takes over from the late Robredo who died in a plane crash on August 18.

Cavite Representative Joseph E.A. Abaya moves over to the Department of Transportation and Communications, the highly placed source also confirmed to the Inquirer.

Both Roxas and Abaya are stalwarts of the Liberal Party (LP), which is led by President Benigno Aquino. At the request of the Robredo family, both served as pallbearers during the state funeral rites for Secretary Robredo and both had been highly tipped to succeed the latter.

At least three LP members in the House of Representatives on Thursday said the President had made up his mind to move Roxas over to the DILG to sustain the gains made by Robredo who expanded the LP membership among governors and mayors.

No reply

Roxas has not replied to calls on whether he would accept the DILG post if offered by President Aquino.

Abaya, chairman of the House appropriations committee, on the other hand, had declared he would accept the job if offered by the President.

Others whose names had been bruited about, like Vice President Jejomar Binay, were quick to end speculations about their appointment to the DILG. Binay, who pulled a surprise win over Roxas in the May 2010 elections, has announced he will run for president in 2016, said he had no interest in the job.

He suggested, though, that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., whom Mr. Aquino appointed officer in charge during the search for permanent DILG secretary, was qualified for the post, having been a top Quezon City Hall executive for years.

Control of DILG

Another Malacañang official said the party’s top brass had lobbied to the President to make control of the DILG by the party a priority over problems on criminality and the spread of illegal numbers games like jueteng, with the approach of next year’s midterm elections.

Another LP member of Congress, who refused to be identified for lack of authority to speak for the party, said LP leaders had made a strong pitch to the President to keep the DILG in the party’s hands during a lunch in Naga City shortly after Robredo was laid to rest last Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the LP held a meeting at its “Balay” headquarters in Quezon City to swear in new members from several provinces. An LP member present said the DILG vacancy issue was not taken up then as party leaders had already talked to Mr. Aquino in Naga the day before. The Balay headquarters is in the Araneta-Roxas family compound in Cubao.

But Iloilo Representative Jerry Treñas, another LP member who attended Robredo’s interment, said Mr. Aquino and other party leaders merely had lunch and talk of Robredo’s replacement never came up.

No discussion

“There were many guests at the lunch, including Cabinet members. No discussions were made on LP matters including the question of who would be the next DILG secretary,” said Treñas in a phone interview.

Abaya and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., another LP stalwart, did not reply to the Inquirer’s calls.

Former Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, whose name was also floated as a possible Robredo replacement, appeared uncomfortable being mentioned along with the likes of Senator Panfilo Lacson, Davao Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, who headed the DILG in the Estrada administration.

“I’m amused when the matter is talked about. They mentioned Duterte, Lim, Lacson, then Grace Padaca. It’s like I’m being lined up with these competent tough men (mga barako),” she said in Filipino in a media forum at Quezon Memorial Circle.

“Para lang akong salinggit (I’m just a runt alongside them),” she said.

But she added: “Hindi naman ibig sabihin na kami pong mga galing sa local governments ay hindi po namin kaya ’yan (But that’s not to say that we who came from the local governments cannot do the job),” she said. “Kakayanin, kakayanin talaga kung nandun yung challenge. Bakit hindi? (We’ll be able to measure up if challenged. Why not?).”

Padaca downplayed reports she was being considered for the DILG post, saying her name was mentioned probably only as part of “political chatter.” She said there were no such discussions in the Liberal Party, of which she is a member.

Meanwhile, DILG employees who are still mourning the loss of Robredo said they were ready to support his replacement, a DILG official said Thursday.

‘Back to normal’

Interior Undersecretary Austere Panadero said that while the employees were still grieving, operations were “back to normal.”

“The people are still in shock … it will take time but normal governance processes are ongoing,” Panadero said.

He said that among plans being pursued by Robredo before his untimely death on August 18 in a plane crash off Masbate was the relocation of informal settlers from Metro Manila.

“Well, of course, the new secretary would also have to pay attention to that, but at the moment what I’m saying is that Secretary Robredo had clear plans on how to deal with that so we are carrying them out,” Panadero said.

Leni Robredo (Wife of Jesse Robredo) Eulogy on his husband; Jess truly a family man

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Eulogy of Jesse Robredo

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NAGA CITY—Eulogizing Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on the final day of national mourning before his interment here on Tuesday, President Aquino said that the secretary had joined the pantheon of national heroes looking after his countrymen.

“Jesse is already in the ranks of heroes watching over us from heaven, and he is giving us the strength to continue with their good deeds. So let us stop weeping; instead, let us give thanks,” the President said in a speech delivered in Filipino that elicited repeated applause from the crowd at Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, where the concelebrated requiem Mass was held.

“For the brief time that he was here in this world, we were the ones blessed to be in the company of Jesse Manalastas Robredo,” said Mr. Aquino, who wore a black arm band as a sign of mourning.

“Goodbye, Jesse. In behalf of the nation, thank you very much,” the President concluded.

The funeral rites came 10 days after Robredo, 54, and the two pilots of a Piper Seneca died in a plane crash at sea in Masbate.

In his eulogy, Mr. Aquino summed up the gravity of Robredo’s death. “His family lost a husband and father; the nation lost a trustworthy and efficient leader; I lost a brother in the official family of the Cabinet who was an ally in our crusades, and a party mate. I lost a good friend,” he said.

Robredo had served for 19 years as mayor of this city before joining the Aquino administration in 2010.

‘Tsinelas people’

Fr. Kulandairaj Ambrose, Jamaican-based of the Missionaries of the Poor, who officiated the funeral Mass, declared Robredo a champion of the “tsinelas people,” referring to the poor, the abandoned, homeless, and neglected whom many considered  a “burden” on society.

Ambrose, a Jamaican missionary, was personally asked by Robredo’s widow, lawyer Maria Leonor “Leni,” to officiate the requiem Mass.

The priest said that Robredo had proven that the “Filipino is worth dying for,” borrowing the famous line of the President’s  father, slain Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.

“I am humble and honored to do this to a friend, a great man and a friend of the poor,” said the priest, who vowed to establish a free clinic for the poor “in his honor.”

Describing Robredo as a family man, a “man of the poor,” and a “God-fearing man,” Ambrose lamented that his wards would surely miss Robredo. “He was their father; they are his children,” said Ambrose.

“He was there even when we did not need him. You may call it a tsinelas friendship.”

Crowd like ‘Ina’ feast

The throng of mourners was so huge that more than a hectare grounds of the basilica and Magsaysay and Peñafrancia Avenues filled with  people, which only happens during the annual September processions of the image of the Virgin Mary, to whom Robredo was a devoted.

Two Marian processions are held every third Friday and Saturday of September in Naga City—the Traslacion on Friday and the fluvial procession the following day.

But on the interment of Robredo, all three recognizable landmarks of this city were filled with men and women in yellow, who also wore tsinelas or rubber slippers as tribute to the simplicity of Robredo.

Thousands of Camarines Sur residents converged in Naga, mindless of the searing heat.

‘Voyadores’

The size of the crowd on the streets was comparable to the crowd that would gather every “traslacion” or fluvial  procession.

Some of the men donned the trimmings of the “voyadores,” or men who carry the Virgin Mary during the processions. They wear yellow headbands. Voyadores also wear headbands of different colors from red to blue during the Peñafrancia fiesta.

But unlike the voyadores who walk barefoot, most of the men wore slippers.

It was different, too, from the traslacion and the fluvial procession since many women came. Women are not allowed to join the main procession every September and can only trail the men.

Lea Marcelo, a teacher from Pili, Camarines Sur, who lined up with thousands of people as the bier of the late secretary was moving out of the compound of the basilica, was among those who described the funeral as “phenomenal one fit for a hero.”

“This is a manifestation of the greatest love for our secretary,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer as the cortege moved in slow cadence and the gun salute boomed.

“We can’t help but shed tears, yet only God knows the reason for the loss of a hero,” Marcelo said.

As Robredo’s bier mounted on an open truck decked with white and yellow flowers passed by, people waved to show they were saying goodbye to a well-loved son of Naga City. They shouted, “Pogi, pogi, pogi.”

Legion of Honor

Before the eulogy, the President conferred posthumously the Philippine Legion of Honor, with the rank of Chief Commander, on Robredo.

It was the President’s penultimate act before he handed Robredo’s widow the flag which, for many mourners here, has come to symbolize the country’s undying gratitude to a fallen son of Bicol who had devoted his life to God and country.

The future

The President talked about a future when he and members of his Cabinet would meet and discuss what they went through during their incumbency.

“Jesse will not be with us during those conversations. We won’t be teasing Jesse about how he would size up his daughter’s suitors, and in the coming years, he won’t be around to play with his grandchildren,” he said.

Mr. Aquino said many in the Cabinet had hoped that Robredo would still show up and say, “Forgive me, you were all inconvenienced by my delayed arrival.”

Simple living

He made public what could probably be Robredo’s private personality—the “what you see is what you get” attitude; his quiet but hardworking work ethic; simple living; and proximity to the masses.

Mr. Aquino also joked about Robredo’s singing “limitations,” although two of his favorite songs were “My Way” and “Impossible Dream.”

“Jesse is a trailblazer in the ‘straight path,’” the President said.

“He proved that someone could succeed in politics without becoming a traditional politician,” and that early in his political career, “he longed for deep and widespread change,” Mr. Aquino said.

Cabinet pallbearers

By virtue of a presidential edict, Robredo was accorded full military honors befitting a head of state when he was finally laid to rest here.

The funeral and interment arrangements prepared by the Palace Committee on Funeral Arrangements and Burial were followed religiously.

After the President’s eulogy, the honor guard carried Robredo’s flag-draped casket and put it on a bier.

Secretaries Leila de Lima, Rogelio Singson, Rene Almendras, Edwin Lacierda and Teresita Deles; Metropolitan Manila Development Chairman Francis Tolentino and Lualhati Antonino, the chair of the Mindanao Development Authority, served as pallbearers.

The police and military detail rendered for the last time departure honors, including a 19-gun salute, before the funeral cortege proceeded to Funeraria Imperial Crematory and Columbary, some 700 meters away from the basilica.

All Cabinet members

The President, Robredo’s immediate family—Leni, Aika, Patricia and Jillian—close relatives and friends, and all members of the Cabinet followed the bier on foot.

The cortege reached the crematory at 1:03 p.m., when the military detail rendered the final honors for Robredo and a three-volley gun salute accompanied by a sounding of Taps.

For the last time, the crowd applauded Robredo before the casket bearers removed and folded the flag. It was handed to the President, who then presented it to Robredo’s wife at 1:24 p.m.

National Days of Mourning

This ended the state funeral, which began on August 21, when the President signed Proclamation No. 460 proclaiming National Days of Mourning until interment.

Later Tuesday, Robredo’s ashes would be interred in a plot in the Eternal Gardens beside the funeral home in a ceremony exclusive to the family and close friends of Robredo.

National figure

In a span of just seven years, Robredo was the second national figure from this region to be mourned by Bicolanos.

Robredo was a close ally of the late Sen. Raul Roco—also one of the region’s most beloved sons—who died in August 2005, after a long bout with prostate cancer.

Robredo walked alongside Roco’s hearse during the funeral procession attended by some 50,000 people

Robredo known for ‘tsinelas’ leadership

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Whether responding to disasters or planning how to rescue flood victims at emergency Cabinet meetings, Jesse Robredo would always turn up looking so cool in tsinelas (rubber slippers). The image defined him, and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, speaking at a necrological service for the late secretary of the interior in Malacañang on Saturday night, called it Robredo’s “tsinelas brand of leadership.”

It was the last night of the state vigil for Robredo in the Palace and members of the Cabinet gave their departed colleague a merry, song-filled tribute before his family took his body back to his hometown in Naga City on Sunday morning.

The colleague Cabinet members called “Pogi”—handsome —died in a plane crash in Masbate province on August 18, leaving President Aquino suddenly without a popular and respected ally to handle the consolidation of local power as his administration faced its first local and congressional elections next year.

Cabinet secretaries, along with Vice President Jejomar Binay and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., remembered Robredo in songs, laughter and speeches.

As mourners filed past Robredo’s bier at Kalayaan Hall, they performed Robredo’s favorite songs in between eulogies, drawing smiles from the
President and Robredo’s widow, Leni, and daughters Aika, Patricia and Jillian.

Eulogy

In his eulogy titled “Tsinelas,” Almendras recalled that when
Aquino called an emergency meeting in the military headquarters in the aftermath of the August 7 massive flooding in the capital, he was amused to see Robredo looking so cool in rubber slippers.

Days later, he said, when the President and the Cabinet officials motored to evacuation centers, Robredo disappeared from the van, but showed up later on stage, wearing slippers. Robredo came prepared, as they waded in floods at the entrance to a school in Valenzuela City.

“He’d tell me: ‘Pare, this is the right footwear for floods. Flood victims use slippers,’” Almendras said. He described Robredo’s tsinelas leadership as a “pragmatic” and “a more demonstrative version of servant leadership.”

As Almendras sees it, Robredo’s leadership has many features. The first, Almendras said, is willingness to wade in floods and travel to the most far-flung areas “to be with the most disadvantaged people.”

“We all know Secretary Jesse rarely said no. That’s why he was one of the most well-traveled Cabinet members. He went to many places where some of us could not go to,” he said.

The presence of mourners from Mindanao during the first night of the vigil on Friday was a testament to how far Robredo would go “just to reach people,” he added.

Another characteristic of Robredo’s leadership, he said, was breaking down the barriers “between us and the people we serve.”

“Many years ago, a young architect told me: I will design it so nicely so that those shod in slippers will be shy to get in. We’re here in Malacañang; we’re here at Kalayaan Hall. Look around you. This place was not designed for tsinelas. And yet last night, and throughout most of today, how many thousands of slippers came into this room to pay tribute, to pay homage and honor to Secretary Jesse?” Almendras said, referring to the mourners filing into the American-era hall to pay their last respects to Robredo.

“Leaders must be acceptable, accessible to those they serve. That was Secretary Jesse Robredo,” he added.

And, of course, what is tsinelas leadership but being casual with people?

Almendras said: “But really wearing slippers is the most casual form. Being casual is being warm. Leaders must be casual with the people they serve so that they can listen, hear and empathize with the people that they serve. That was Secretary Jesse Robredo in its truest form.”

More important, this kind of leadership all boils down to base-level transformation, he said.

“It’s about transforming the expectations of people from their leaders so that the next set of leaders will be better than the good ones we now have. Tsinelas leadership is about working on the basics, no frills, something as uncomplicated and casual as the tsinelas but with a very, very clear vision. That was Secretary Jesse Robredo,” Almendras said.

Genuine concern

A day before Robredo died, Almendras said he got a call from the interior secretary who sounded so concerned about why floodwaters in Bulacan, a province north of Manila, had not subsided and what could be done about it.

Almendras said he promised to bring it up with Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson.

“The very last line he told me was: ‘All right, pare. Our countrymen are really in a pitiful state.’ That is tsinelas leadership. A genuine concern and care for the people that we serve. That is Secretary Jess Robredo in its true context,” Almendras said.

Robredo was wearing slippers long before flip-flops and Havaianas became fashionable, Almendras said.

“My wish and prayer is the tsinelas leadership begun by Secretary Jess will become fashionable,” he said. Then turning to Robredo’s widow, he said: “Attorney Len, Pogi is also a fashion trendsetter. It won’t be far-fetched for candidates in 2013 to campaign in tsinelas. I hope this won’t just be for picture-taking. I hope they will step up to the standards that have been set by Secretary Jess Robredo, and that they will be worthy to wear the tsinelas.”

After the eulogies, the Cabinet officials rose from their seats and proceeded to the front of the bier and, clutching copies of lyrics, they sang Robredo’s favorite songs, “Impossible Dream” and “My Way.”

They ended Frank Sinatra’s famous song with the lyrics: “It was Jesse’s way.” Strategic Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang, the emcee, later said, “You know, I always hated that song, but tonight I liked it.”

The Cabinet dedicated their third and final song, The Stylistics’ “Betcha by Golly, Wow” to Leni Robredo, with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima leading. The song was the Robredo couple’s favorite.

At the start of the Cabinet memorial service, Noel Cabangon performed two songs, setting the tone for a night of entertainment and laughter.

Earlier, during the Liberal Party’s memorial service, Ogie Alcasid and Christian Bautista sang gospel songs. This was capped by Bayang Barrios with “Bayan Ko.”

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Robredo’s colleague in the Cabinet and in the Liberal Party, said he and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima discussed the meaning of Robredo’s passing.

“Cesar remarked: ‘Pare, what happened to Jesse is difficult … If we die, and we don’t get this kind of outpouring of grief, they might say we’ve done nothing,’” he said, drawing laughter. “Maybe, you should immediately get cremated.”

But then Abad said Robredo was a “tough act to follow,” saying he set an extraordinary standard as a public official, family man and servant of God.

“I, myself, have been grappling with this question and it’s clear to me that Jesse’s death isn’t the loss of this administration alone, it is the entire country’s. And our loss is defined first and foremost by Jesse’s uncanny, almost unmatched ability to navigate the delicate complexities of public service,” he said.

A good man

The sum of his achievements was founded on a basic truth: That Jesse was a “good man,” Abad said.

He wondered if it was coincidence that Robredo’s body was recovered on the 29th anniversary of the assassination of the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. when he returned from exile in the United States on August 21.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But judging from the grief that swept the nation, judging from the public clamor for a new hero like Jesse, his passing invoked in us a renewed sense of commitment in much the same way as Ninoy’s death became Jesse’s impetus for public service,” Abad said.

“And here we are now at the very cusp of a revolution that the unprecedented election of our dear President Aquino into office catalyzed and which Jesse’s narrative further enhanced: A movement for effective, transparent and accountable governance and a call for the empowerment of all Filipinos, especially the poor and the disadvantaged,” Abad said.

The three-day state vigil for Robredo in Malacañang ended Sunday morning, with President Aquino leading departure honors for him at Kalayaan Hall before his remains were flown back to his hometown.

Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said a predawn Mass prior to the sendoff ceremonies on the Palace grounds.

The President, Leni Robredo and her children, and select members of the Cabinet watched as an honor guard composed of 150 members of the Presidential Security Group rendered departure honors, paying last respects to the late interior secretary with a 19-gun salute.

The hearse bearing the remains of Robredo left Malacañang at about 7:25 a.m. for Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, where planeside honors were given by the Armed Forces of the Philippines before the remains were flown back to Naga.

The plane carrying Robredo’s casket arrived at Naga Airport a little past 9 a.m. A series of necrological services was held, with public viewing commencing at 6 p.m. and lasting until late Monday.

The President has declared Tuesday a nonworking holiday in Naga for Robredo’s interment.

The funeral Mass takes place at Basilica Minore de Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia at 10 a.m. Tuesday. It will be followed by the rendering of full military honors at 11 a.m., and by the conclusion of the state funeral at Funeraria Imperial, where Robredo’s remains will be cremated.

Aquino will deliver a eulogy at the funeral.

An Interview with Leni Robredo (Wife of Sec. Jess Robredo):"That first night, I knew he was gone"

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Moments before his plane plunged into the sea off Masbate island on Saturday, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo was telling his wife, Leni, on his cell phone: “Ma, just a moment, I am just attending to something. I will call you back.”

Robredo’s voice was calm.

Leni, in Naga City, was on her way to the airport to fetch him. She had no idea that the plane, a four-seater Piper Seneca, was about to crash.

He never called again.

When told by a Robredo aide that a plane had nosedived into the water, she thought: “Could it be their plane? Could it be him?”

That was how Robredo’s wife, Maria Leonor Sto. Tomas Gerona Robredo, 47, recounted in a press interview in Naga on Thursday her last conversation with her husband. Before then, Robredo had talked about his wish to see his family one more time.

Here’s that interview translated to English:

Question: What’s the decision of the family about the offer to bury Jesse Robredo at the Libingan ng mga Bayani?

Leni: We feel very honored with the offer but we are very sure that Jesse would prefer to be buried here. Naga has always been his home. He always tells me this is a happy place. That’s why I think we will be doing him a great disservice if he is not buried here.

So painful

Q: How does his family feel now, the brothers and sisters of Robredo, his parents?

Leni: We are coping but it’s very difficult. It’s so painful to lose a husband, lose a father, lose a brother. But now we know that this is what God wants. There’s nothing we can do but accept. All through his life Jess would always say, ‘What is fated is what will happen.’ I think the most that we can do to help him find rest is to show him that we are strong and we can take this.

Q: What were you and the Secretary talking about while he was on the flight?

Leni: Actually, we had quite a long talk. On a regular basis, we would talk 10, 20 times a day, but on that particular Saturday, our text exchanges and our conversation must have doubled. He was flying to Cebu while we had an occasion here. I would update him.

He would call and was so happy. He wanted to talk to our daughter, to congratulate her. All throughout the day that was the tenor of our talk.  He wanted to be home. He had expected that the affair involving our daughter would be over by 5 p.m.  But at 2 p.m. I texted him that it had ended. So he knew he would not make it.

Bent on going home

I thought he was not coming home anymore but a staff member of his told me he was bent on going home. It was not unusual for him and he was always very happy to surprise us. So I texted him at about 3:15 and said, “Pa, are you coming home?” He said, “Yes, we have boarded the plane.”

I am the one who drives the car and fetches him at the aiport. He said, “Take your time because our ETA is still at 4:15.”

I left the house about 3:40. I drove to the Naga airport in Pili. Just before I reached the airport, he texted me, “Our plane is going back to Cebu.” I asked him, “Why?” He did not answer me. Then he replied again, “The plane is going to Cebu.”

I was waiting for his instructions, if I would wait for him at the airport or if I would go home. But I could not contact him. So I decided to go home. I texted him, “I kept calling you but you do not answer.” And he answered, “The signals are bad.”

Calm voice
When I reached home I checked the log of my cell phone. It was 4:40. That’s why I thought it was impossible that the accident happened at 4:30 unless the time on my phone was advanced … Finally I was able to contact him on his Smart number. He told me, “Ma, just a moment, I am just attending to something. I will call you back.” He spoke in a very calm voice. It was as if I was calling him while he was in the middle of a meeting.

So I told him, “OK.” I didn’t call him again. I thought that they had landed safely in Cebu and the reason he was busy was because he was trying to find tickets in a commercial flight.

But about 15 minutes later, around 5, his security in Manila, Paul, called me up. He said, “Ma’am, were you able to talk with Sir?” I was a bit confused because I told him, “Yes, five minutes ago.” I asked why. He said that “a few minutes ago he called me up asking for help to clear the Masbate Airport because they were going to make an emergency landing.”

In fact, I think the airport was already cleared for landing, several officials were there but they reported sightings of a plane that had supposedly crashed into the sea.

It hadn’t sunk in yet so I said, “Could it be Jess and his companions?”  Paul said, “Maybe not, Ma’am. Hopefully Ma’am, it’s not them.”

But when I put my phone down, that’s it, I began to think it might be him.

‘My legs like jelly’

I told my youngest daughter first because she was the one with me. I told her, let us pray because something might have happened to Papa’s plane. She was already crying. I decided to call up Aika. She was in Araneta Coliseum watching the UAAP, Ateneo vs FEU. I told her what happened, she left the game, picked up her sister and they went to church.

I also informed my brother-in-law and my sisters-in-law. My youngest daughter Jillian was already crying and she was asking me if we can go to church. I told her, in my condition I don’t think I can drive because I felt like my legs were turning into jelly.

In a few minutes Mayor Bongat and the city council arrived until there were already many people in the house. Everyone was hoping that he would be okay. But after the first night, I knew that he was gone.

Q: Have you talked with the aide (Senior Inspector June Paolo Abrazado) of Secretary Robredo?

Leni: I wasn’t able to talk with him but I texted his father. I said, “Sir, this is Leni Robredo. Please tell June we are very thankful to him, we are thankful that he survived, we knew he took care of my husband … June served my husband very well. He is a good man, he was kind to all of us. That’s why whatever I feel now toward him is the gratitude that everybody feels.”

No longer important

Q: Many people say that he deserves a posthumous confirmation. Do you think this is necessary? What do you think is the best way to remember your husband?

Leni: When the confirmation was scheduled, I think it was last Wednesday or the Wednesday before that, I texted him. We are devotees of the Virgin of Peñafrancia and I was telling him, “Pa, I started the novena today for your confirmation hearing.” I said, “It’s just right because the confirmation hearing would be on the ninth day, a Wednesday.” He said, “Ay, don’t pray for that anymore.” He said, “It’s okay if I am no longer confirmed. Just pray for the midterms of your daughter.”

I’m just speculating but maybe that is no longer that important for him. I think what is more important to him is that he was able to do his job well. For me, it is as if it’s just a formality … I would like to think that not being confirmed was no longer a big thing with him.”

Q: Your husband has been a bastion of good governance and he has been awarded several times. What would the family want to continue the legacy of Secretary Robredo?

Leni: As of now, maybe because we are numb with grief, I can’t think of concrete steps. I would want to continue, not his legacy because I could not do what he had done, but maybe keep his memory alive. Whatever it is, maybe whoever will take his place would continue what he has begun. And hopefully the seeds he had planted in local government units would grow. Because if that does not happen, it’s as if the labors that my husband had done have gone to nothing.

He wants cremation

Q: Have you decided to cremate or bury him in Naga?

Leni: When Jess was alive, that was what he kept saying, that when dies, he wants to be cremated. So most probably, we would be following his wishes. He will be cremated but the people of Naga will be able to visit him. So we are preparing for that.

Q: What do you miss most about Secretary Jess?

Leni: I can’t say because of what we are feeling now. But while we are sad now it’s as if we are still kidding him at home … I am sure that what people have now shown him was beyond his imagination. He was always assured of the love of the people of Naga but it turns out it is not just the people of Naga who love him … He was very hardworking, very passionate about his work.

‘Are my efforts appreciated?’

When he comes home, sometimes he would say, “Will anything that I have been doing amount to anything?” It’s as if he is wondering if his efforts are appreciated because it’s different with the national and the local. Locally, the results are instant and he was used to that. But nationally, the results are not instant and he gets impatient. He would keep on asking: “Are my efforts appreciated?”

I keep talking to him until now, telling him, “See, the people have answered.” I am sure the point will come that we will miss him but right now we are steeling ourselves and we’d rather think that he is very, very happy now.”

Q: What do you think is the greatest thing Secretary Robredo did for the city and the entire country?

Leni: I cannot answer that. What I can say is what he did for our family. Jess was a regular husband, a regular father. He was not a Secretary, not a mayor if he was home. What I mean is he wanted to feel important to us.

He would come home only on weekends and the things that needed fixing were waiting for him—the busted light, the plumbing, the out-of-order telephone, these were waiting for him.

Cup is overflowing

He said one of the reasons why he wanted to come home every weekend was he felt grounded here … Power has its way of getting into you but it’s as if he is saying that every time he comes home, he wants to feel like a regular dad, a regular husband. That whatever it was that needed to be done had to wait for him.

What I want to say is while it might have been unnecessary that we should bother him about trivial things, it made him feel important. He was always doing something for the family. When I say “thank you” to him, he would say, “Least I can do, Ma.”

He would tell me, “It’s difficult to get used to certain things.” He was referring to perks in the office. He would tell me, “It’s difficult to get used to those things because you might get used to them.”

I think that’s why he always came home every weekend. Because that’s the way he was. So when people asked him, “Why do you keep coming back home?” he would tell them, “If I don’t come home, I would lose my head in Manila.”

Q: Do you have any regrets that he went to DILG?

Leni: None. I know he lived a full life. He fulfilled all his dreams. Just last Sunday, the one before this Sunday, we were having a talk. He said, “Quotang-quota na ako!” He said he no longer had any dreams for himself—just for his children. It was as if he was saying that his cup is already overflowing.

It’s as if he was saying, “I never dreamed that these things would happen to me. Sobra-sobra na ito (This is too much already).” And I think he was prepared to face the Lord.

I may have told you that he often went to Confession, maybe two or three times in a month. That’s why he is very ready. For me, I didn’t even question why he was taken so early. That’s how I explain to my children. While what happened was tragic to us because we were not prepared, his kind of death was perhaps a reward for the good things he had done.

Q: The feast of the Peñafrancia is coming. Will Secretary Jess be part of the traslacion and the fluvial parade?

Leni: I think he will be there in spirit.


Inquirer Research

(Editors Note: Leni Robredo was a graduate of the Universidad de Sta. Isabel in Naga City from elementary [1978] to high school [1982].

She graduated at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1986 with a degree in Economics and took up law at the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City, passing the bar in 1990.

She is the eldest of the three children of retired Naga City Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio Gerona and Salvacion Sto. Tomas. She is at present connected with the Naga chapter of Saligan, a national alternative lawyers’ group helping farmers.)

Robredo:"I'm in a hurry.. I have a flight to catch

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 CONSOLACION, Cebu - ''I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry... I have a flight to catch''.

These were the last words of Secretary Jesse Robredo to reporters who tried to interview him at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) just hours before the plane he boarded the private plane for Naga City.

Organizers of the Community Investigative Support (CIS) National Summit thought the secretary could not make it to the event because they knew he had a 3 p.m. Cebu Pacific flight to catch.

But he made it to the event, looking stressed and in a hurry, to read the message of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Local reporters tried to corner Robredo after his speech but the secretary, who was in a rush to leave for his flight.

''He looked so stressed and was in such a hurry,'' said local reporter Ryan Christopher Sorote.

A source in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Robredo was in a rush because his youngest daughter, Jilian, had won a swimming competition in the Palarong Panglunsod. ''He wanted to make it was eager to make it to the awarding ceremony of his daughter,'' the source said.

Every weekend, without fail, he flies home to his family in Naga City where he was once mayor, the source said.

''Because he is so busy, sometimes he would even take the last flight out on Friday just to be with his family in Naga,'' he said. ''But he always goes home to them.''

Robredo spent his Saturday in Cebu, meeting local officials and addressing the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Community Investigative Support national summit.

Hours before his plane crashed into the waters off Masbate, Robredo has even urged LGUs to ensure disaster and rescue preparedness in their respective communities to minimize the loss of lives during calamities, unsuspicious of the incident he was about to face.

And when a town mayor asked if they could meet again in the evening to discuss some concerns, Robredo just smiled and replied ''Let's meet some other time''.

Consolacion town Mayor Teresa Alegado, who was one of those who had a conversation with Robredo had taken notice of the warm weather of Cebu.

''Mabuti at mainit dito sa Cebu, sa Manila laging umuulan,'' Alegado quoted Robredo as saying.

Robredo was in Consolacion Saturday morning for the ground breaking of the Philippine Police Safety College.

''I asked him if we could meet again in the evening to discuss some concerns but he just said 'maybe some other time','' said Alegado.

Robredo and his aide Senior Insp. Jun Abrazado were aboard the Piper Seneca owned and piloted by Capt. Jessup Bahinting of the Aviatour Flight School and his Nepalese copilot Kshitiz Chand.

It was Aviatour's second crash in five months as one of its Cessna aircraft crashed into coconut trees near the airport in Camiguin last March 4, 2012.

A Norwegian national and the pilot were killed, while the Norwegian's husband, their three-year-old child and an Indonesian student pilot were injured.

But Aviatour's owner, Bahinting, is a veteran pilot, said Cebu City Traffic Chief Sylvan Jakosalem, a close friend of the missing pilot.

Aviatour conducts aerial tours and does charter flights to Tagbilaran, Dipolog, Tacloban, Bantayan, Camotes, Siargao, Guian, Camiguin, Caticlan, and Masbate. It also conducts pilot training courses.

Just five days ago, Bahinting was involved in a heroic flight that would have earned him the special Lifesaver Award from the City City government, said Jakosalem.

A zoo keeper was bitten by a Philippine King Cobra and Cebu City does not have anti-venom that would keep the victim alive. Jakosalem said he learned that Camiguin has anti-venom but it will take time to be shipped to Cebu.

Jakosalem said he contacted Bahinting and the veteran pilot, despite the bad weather, sent one of his Cessna planes and a Nigerian pilot to Camiguin to pick up vials of anti-venom that eventually saved the zookeeper's life.

Palace mourns of Robredo's death

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MANILA, Philippines - The Palace joins the Robredo family and the entire nation in mourning the death of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.
In his Twitter account, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda posted: "Jesse has passed. The nation has lost one of her finest servant-leaders. Join us in mourning and tribute."
Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office also bid Robredo farewell on his Tumbler account, posting: "Goodbye, Jesse Robredo. Salamat sa lahat ng ginawa mo para sa Bayan."
Quezon paid tribute to the fallen cabinet member through the words of former Indian Prime Minister and statesman Jawaharlal Nehru:
"The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere…
The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented something more than the immediate past, it represented the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom."
Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, who has been overseeing search and rescue operations for Robredo and his two pilots, also posted: "Prayers please for ma'am Lennie and his (Robredo) kids."
It was Roxas who, through a public media briefing earlier this morning, confirmed the recovery of Robredo's remains.
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, meantime, is still composing herself after receiving word from ABS-CBN News at past 9 o'clock this morning about the recovery of Robredo's remains.
De Lima, in a text message, said: "Too devastated to really say anything at this point! I'm sure many others feel the same way."
De Lima worked closely with Robredo in the investigation into the Aug. 23, 2010 Manila hostage crisis that left several Hong Kong tourists dead, among other joint cooperation efforts between their two departments.

Robredo's body was found- Mar Roxas

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 MANILA, Philippines – Technical divers have recovered the body of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas said on Tuesday.

An emotional Roxas broke the “sad news” at a briefing at 9:15 a.m., saying that Robredo’s body was found 800 meters from the shore at a depth of 180 feet at 7:45 a.m .

“The body has indications that it belongs to Sec. Jess,” said Roxas as he tried to fight off tears.

The remains of the Department of Interior and Local Government chief has been pulled from the fuselage and brought by rubber boat to one of Philippine Coast Guard’s vessels. It is now on its way to Naga City, Roxas said.

Recovery was difficult as the fuselage had overturned but operations continued to retrieve the bodies of the two pilots who were found inside the Piper Seneca plane. “Nakasubsob ‘yung dalawang piloto sa loob ng cockpit kaya si Sec. Jesse ang unang nakuha ng diver (The two pilots were inside the cockpit that’s why they recovered Sec. Jesse’s body first),” said Roxas.

“Sa pamilya nina Captain [Jessup] Bahinting and the Nepalese co-pilot [flight student Kshitiz Chand], tuloy po ang recovery operations. Hindi ito para lang kay Sec. Jesse (The recovery operations for the remains of Captain Bahinting and the Nepalese co-pilot are ongoing. This is not only for Sec. Jesse),” said Roxas.

President Benigno Aquino III has been told about the development and has personally informed the DILG chief’s wife, lawyer Leni Robredo.

“The President has already called Mrs. Leni,” said Roxas.

Roxas asked the media and the public to give the Robredo family time to cope with what has happened. He also told them not to disrupt forensic experts who will be examining the bodies.

The official confirmation came after four days of massive search and rescue operations headed no less by President Aquino.

Divers can't find Robredo and 2 pilots

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President Benigno Aquino on Sunday took the lead in the search for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a day after a light plane carrying the local government chief and three others crashed in waters off Masbate.

Mr. Aquino flew to Masbate early Sunday morning to oversee the search for the wreckage of the four-seat Piper Seneca that crashed into the sea while attempting an emergency landing about 5 p.m. on Saturday.

More than 300 rescuers were scouring the area about 500 meters from the shore of Masbate City for Robredo, who was missing along with the plane’s two pilots.

Robredo’s bodyguard, Chief Insp. Jun Abrasado, made a dramatic escape from the doomed plane and was rescued by fishermen. Abrasado was helping in the search, officials said.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas, who accompanied Mr. Aquino and was designated as official spokesperson for the search, said special sonar equipment had been flown to Masbate to help in the search operation after some debris, including one wing of the missing plane, was recovered.

“We just want to do everything we can to save him [Robredo],” Roxas said in a message on Twitter.

“We remain hopeful that Secretary Robredo was just carried by the current … and that he will be found,” Roxas said, adding that Mr. Aquino was “very emotionally attached” to Robredo and was doing everything he could to help find him.

Four people were on the private plane that was heading for Naga City in Camarines Sur province from Cebu City when it malfunctioned and crashed in waters between Masbate and Ticao Islands.

Missing, aside from Robredo, were Capt. Jessup Bahinting, the pilot and CEO of Aviatour Air that owned the aircraft, and Kshitiz Chand, the Nepalese copilot.

At about 3 p.m. Sunday, Masbate Bantay Dagat reported to City Mayor Socrates Tuason that a large object had been detected on the seafloor.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) also reported that a Navy vessel’s sonar had detected “something metallic” on the sea floor.

“The sonar showed it was something metallic. But it’s not definite yet if that was really part of the airplane,” NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos said by phone.

Hoping for best

“We are hoping for the best that there are still survivors,” Ramos said.

When the Philippine Daily Inquirer sought confirmation from Roxas by phone, he replied: “Nothing yet. Some underwater, seabed disturbances of indeterminate origin indicated by sonar.”

At 4:30 p.m., however, reports came that the flight manifest of the plane with the names of Robredo, Abrasado and the pilots were found in waters 750 meters off the shore.

Roxas confirmed the recovery of the document. He said the diver who recovered it reported finding it at a depth of 45 meters “alongside tracks” on the sea floor.

Earlier, Roxas said Coast Guard, Navy and police divers were searching for the wreckage in depths of 40 meters to 80  meters in an area about 200 meters from the tip of the runway of Masbate Airport.

Coast Guard divers reported seeing what looked like skid marks on the sea floor.

Wreckage dragged

Roxas said the marks could be a sign that strong undercurrents were dragging the wreckage of the plane.

With that possibility, Roxas ordered the Coast Guard to delineate an area where the wreckage could be.

Malacañang could not say whether the President was staying in the area the whole day overseeing the air and surface operations to find Robredo and the others missing.

Tweets by InquirerSLB and ABS-CBN television said, however, the President was staying overnight in Masbate to continue supervising the search operation.

Accompanying Mr. Aquino were Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Philippine National Police Chief Nicanor Bartolome, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Rep. Jun Abaya, president of the ruling Liberal Party.

Contrary to reports late on Saturday, the search went on overnight, according to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

More equipment were deployed Sunday morning to intensify the search for the wreckage, he said.

US help

A flyby on Saturday night by a US aircraft failed to pinpoint the location of the wreckage, Roxas said.

Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said “big fishing boats with powerful lights helped in the search, trying to locate the plane’s wreckage,” but they had “no success so far.”

Balilio confirmed that the Coast Guard had sought help from the US Coast Guard.

“We gave the grid coordinates of the crash site to our American counterpart,” Balilo said. “We hope they can dispatch today one of their Lockheed P3 Orion aircraft to help in the search for the missing plane.”

Witnesses

Mayor Tuason said witnesses saw the plane trying to land at Masbate Airport at about 4:20 p.m. Saturday. But the plane suddenly plunged into the sea about 200 meters from the shore, he said.

Robredo attended groundbreaking rites for the new PNP Regional Training Center in Cebu City on Saturday. He was supposed to return to Manila on a Cebu Pacific flight that was to depart at 5:30 p.m.

But “for reasons known only to Secretary Robredo, he decided to take a private plane instead of taking the commercial flight,” Roxas said in a statement posted on the government’s official website.

“The secretary opted to fly using one of the planes of Aviatour Air, an aviation company based in [Mactan-Cebu International Airport],” he said. Aviatour Air provides professional pilot training, charter services, aircraft sales and maintenance services.

Last hours

According to records at the Police Center for Aviation Security 7 (PCAS-7) and the public affairs division of Mactan-Cebu airport, the Piper Seneca took off at 3:06 p.m. It was headed for Naga City.

But at around 3:30 p.m., Abrasado sent a text message to Col. Ritchie Posadas, PCAS-7 chief, to say the plane was returning to Cebu because it was experiencing problems with one of its propellers.

Abrasado requested that Robredo’s flight to Manila be rebooked.

At around 4:20 p.m., the aide called again with the information that the plane was attempting an emergency landing at Masbate Airport.

When asked if he and his companions were all right, Abrasado replied in Filipino, “We’re fine.”

That was the last thing PCAS-7 heard from Abrasado.

The last communication received by the control tower at Mactan-Cebu airport reported the plane to be at 45 meters, descending, on the final approach to Masbate Airport’s runway, using instrument flight rules. The communication said the plane might undershoot the runway.

Then nothing more.

Abrasado survived the crash with minor injuries.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Robredo’s security should not have allowed him to travel on a light plane going to a destination where he would arrive after dark. He said that was “inadvisable.”

Prayers

Prayers poured in from public officials Sunday for Robredo’s safety.

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was among those praying for Robredo to be found safe, according to her spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said people should hang on to the hope that Robredo would be found alive.

Mar Roxas: We’re doing everything to save Robredo

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MANILA, Philippines –  Helicopters and divers were searching Sunday for one of the most powerful Philippine ministers, who was missing and feared dead after a light aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea.

President Benigno Aquino took the lead in the search for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a day after his plane went down near the central island of Masbate.

Aquino flew to Masbate where military divers and helicopters were scouring the area for the minister, who is missing along with two pilots.

Transportation Secretary Manuel “Mar”  Roxas, who accompanied Aquino, said special sonar equipment had also been flown to Masbate to help in the search operation after some debris, including one wing of the missing plane, was recovered.

“We just want to do everything we can to save him (Robredo),” Roxas said in a message on Twitter.

Four people were on the private plane. Robredo’s aide, June Paolo Abrazado survived with only a few injuries while the Secretary and  two pilots identified as Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand remained missing.

The Aquino administration has intensified its efforts to find Robredo and the pilots by sending at least 25 sea vessels from the Philippine Coast Guard, the Navy, Air Force, Philippine National Police, and from the local governments.

The Philippine Navy has deployed its naval ships BRP Simeon Castro and BRP Hilario Ruiz and a diving team from the Naval Special Operations Group (Nagsog) to help in surface and underwater search and rescue operations.

The divers of Navsog have Trimix capabilities, which allow deep diving operations.

A navy islander plane and another diving team were also dispatched from Sangley Point in Cavite to assist in search operations, said Navy spokesman Colonel Omar Tonsay.

Philippine Air Force spokesman Colonel Miguel Ernesto Okol told INQUIRER.net that five helicopters, including its most modern assets, three Sokol and 2UH1H, were also enroute to Masbate.

From an area of about two kilometers from the shore, the search now covers a four kilometer-by-three kilometer site, in a depth of from 40 meters to 67 meters, according to notice posted in a bulletin board of La Villa Resort, which is now being used as a command center in the search and rescue efforts being overseen by no less than President Aquino.

Roxas, who was designated spokesman for the Robredo search, said two US aircrafts did a fly-by in the area last night but found no trace of the aircraft or of its missing passengers – Robredo and pilots Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand.

He said they hoped to get better results with sonar equipment expected to arrive this morning from Cebu.

The government also called a prayer vigil at a Roman Catholic chapel in Manila for the 54-year-old cabinet member, a father of three daughters and a former city mayor.

He is considered to be one of the most influential Philippine politicians and a close presidential aide.

As interior secretary, Robredo was in control of the country’s 143,000-strong national police force which has long been dogged by accusations of corruption and abuse.

In recent months, he had ordered investigations into alleged financial irregularities over the construction of police stations and purchase of helicopters and rescue boats.

Robredo was also playing a key role in the dismantling of private armies allegedly deployed by some powerful provincial governors and city mayors ahead of congressional and local elections in 2013.

A former official at an ice cream company, Robredo was elected mayor of Naga City in the strife-torn Bicol region, south of Manila in 1988 at the age of 29, making him the youngest mayor in the country at the time.

His success in turning the once-sleepy city into a trading, housing and education centre won him many honours including a 2000 Ramon Magsaysay award, considered Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

After serving nine years as a city mayor, he joined Aquino’s successful campaign for the presidency in 2010, endorsing his reformist platform. Robredo was subsequently appointed to the cabinet.