Senate honors Robredo

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate unanimously adopted Senate Resolution No. 120 on Wednesday, August 22, to honor the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo for raising the bar of public service.

“Today, we in the Senate remember the legacy of an extraordinary civil servant whose life was taken from us one day too soon. While we lament his untimely passing, we nevertheless celebrate the heritage of his invaluable leadership that first dawned in the City of Naga – a city he nurtured for 18 years – and radiated brightly in the President’s cabinet as he shouldered the crucial post of Secretary of the Interior and Local Government,” said Senator Frank Drilon, Robredo’s colleague at the Liberal Party (LP). He led the Senate in sponsoring the resolution.

Enrile added: “In behalf of the Senate, I join the rest of the nation in grieving over the passing of a well-loved public servant and urge the national government to extend full state honors for him in grateful recognition of his services to the country.”

Robredo’s plane crashed off Masbate on Saturday, August 18. He was on his way to Naga City from Cebu to spend the long weekend with his family.

S.R. No. 120 is the consolidated version of 6 resolutions separately filed by Senators Drilon (S.R. No. 841), Tito Sotto (S.R. No. 842), Kiko Pangilinan (S.R. No. 843), Lito Lapid (S.R. No. 844), Bong Revilla (S.R. No. 848) and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (S.R. No. 848).

The resolution also recognized Robredo as a role model whose integrity and ethics in public service should be emulated by all. The Senate immediately adjourned session after passing the resolution.

Robredo Awards?
In the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada proposed the creation of the “Jesse Robredo Awards for Good Governance” to search for “local heroes” like him.

“There are many Robredos on the ground. He can be the honest and hardworking traffic enforcer who does not leave his post come hell or high water. Or the barrio doctor who still makes house
calls in the dead of the night,” Tañada said.

Tañada, also Robredo’s colleague in LP, said the award will be “a way to perpetuate not only the works and the memory of a great man but his principles and management style.”

“Alive, he set the standard in public service.  It is now the template for the ages.  And it  up  to us the living to make sure that the generations of civil servants will look up to it as the model to be followed,” Tañada added.

Tañada went as far as proposing categories for the awards: Best Tanod, Best Financially Managed Town, Best Climate Change Adaptation techniques, and Best in Solid Waste Management.

There should also be an award for the Best LGU website,” he added. As Naga City Mayor, Robredo increased transparency by putting up a web site allowing public access to documents on government transcrations. – Rappler.com