Meet Leni Robredo: PH’s new Vice President
While everyone knows exactly who the new president is, not everyone is privy to who our vice president, Leni Robredo, is apart from being a member of the Liberal Party, which former president Benigno Aquino III was also a member of. Here are a few things that you should know about the Philippines’ new vice president:
THE SECOND MEETING. Vice President Leni Robredo (left) is seen meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte during a courtesy call by the latter. Photo courtesy of lenirobredo.com
1. She was a human rights lawyer before being a congresswoman. She used to work for the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN), a national alternative lawyer’s group that helps the marginalized sectors before being elected as the representative for the Third District of Camarines Sur. She would’ve been a Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge by now had her husband, the late Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo, not met his untimely demise.
2. Her simple lifestyle is no ruse. While most people have taken to social media to say that it is merely a ruse, Robredo’s simple lifestyle of taking public transport and shying away from the limelight is her way of honoring her husband’s tsinelas leadership, leading through living a simple life and being connected with the masses.
3. Roxas was more than her running mate. She has been quoted saying that former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas was “Jesse’s second wife.” During her speech at her husband’s third death anniversary in August 2015, she also said that Roxas was a good friend of her husband.
4. She is very organized, but not to the point where you’d call it being obsessive-compulsive (OC). According to an article on Spot.ph, she has multiple lists on her hard drive pertaining to her household (pantry, storeroom, books and magazines, catalogued photographs). There’s also a label for everything in the Robredo house: food closet, medicine cabinet, school and office supplies drawers, etc.
5. She has a permanent neck injury. In the same report, it says the Vice President got this injury from a car accident many moons ago. Most of the time, she doesn’t feel any pain; but when she does, she wears a neck brace. Her husband used to put her on a traction machine for about 30 minutes a day.
6. She married her boss. Most people think it’s impossible to do so, but not the Vice President. Robredo took a job at the Bicol River Basin Development Program, which was then led by her would-be husband, Jesse. In a report from Rappler, her first meeting with Jesse was as unromantic as it gets: she brought a recommendation letter from Jesse’s politician-uncle to try to land the job, but the man was not impressed.
7. She loves Choc-Nut. Yes, that one thing that every Filipino seems to crave for is a favorite of the Vice President, so much so that it was served during her inauguration last June 30, albeit not in the way Filipinos are used to seeing it: it was used as filling for buchi, a rice cake made from sweet rice flour molded into balls usually filled with sweet bean paste.
Do you have more information about the Vice President that the people ought to know? Leave us a comment below and we’ll update the list (but please, nothing about her being a puppet of the Liberal Party or anything remotely associated with that topic).
Source: Spot.PH, lenirobredo.com, CNN Philippines, Rappler
