Not Jesse

Rep. Leni Robredo—the subject of the longest political courtship in Philippine history, according to an irrepressible Sen. Ralph Recto—needed to meet four objectives in her acceptance speech, as the vice presidential candidate of the Mar-Roxas-led Liberal Party coalition.

Speaking on Monday in the same storied members’ club where Corazon Aquino took her oath of office as president in 1986, Robredo needed to bring to the occasion the right, becoming, sense of history.

Speaking in the same hall where Benigno Aquino III announced his presidential candidacy as standard-bearer of the rejuvenated Liberals in 2009, she needed to make a compelling case for party and program continuity.

Speaking in the same venue where Roxas made a political sacrifice and gave way to Aquino’s candidacy in 2009, she needed to explain, simply and convincingly, why she was reluctant to accept the summons to run for higher office, and why, despite that, she was nevertheless accepting the challenge to serve as Roxas’ running mate.

And speaking in the same Club Filipino which had served as stage or backdrop to historical personalities, she needed to introduce herself to the country, not simply as the valiant widow of Jesse Robredo, but as a person, a political leader, in her own right.

Judging from public reaction, she met all four objectives with great success.

The first she did simply by being herself: A woman unused to the national spotlight, an obvious bundle of nerves. She knew she could not take the decision to run for higher office lightly, and showed it in her demeanor: Calm but tense, her handkerchief in constant use. But how refreshing it was to see a politician not swaggering with unearned confidence but entirely self-aware about her limitations. (There was also a neat touch later in the speech, when she pointed out that she had decided to run for Congress exactly three years to the day.)

She met the second objective by talking often and plainly about President Aquino’s brand of governance (at one point, she spoke of a “Golden Age”—something that critics of the Aquino administration will have a field day with, but also something that many reform-minded members of the administration must have thought among themselves but had not yet articulated). She also spoke about Roxas’ friendship with her husband, the popular mayor of Naga City and Aquino’s first interior secretary, who perished in a plane crash. She tied the two strands together with a simple declaration: “Malinaw po sa akin na si Secretary Mar Roxas ang magpapatuloy sa daang matuwid na sinimulan ng administrasyon ng ating mahal na Pangulo” (It is clear to me that Secretary Mar Roxas is the one to continue the straight path started by the administration of our beloved President).

She met the third objective by acknowledging her reservations from her first sentence. “Dumating na po ang araw na sinusubukan naming mag-iina na harapin nang buong tapang” (The day I and my daughters have tried to face with full courage—that day has come). She spoke about her initial response to the news that she was being considered for the position: “Bakit ako? Sa dinami-dami ng puwedeng pagpilian, bakit ako pa?” (Why me? Of the many possible choices, why me of all people?) She addressed her daughters, whose lives will be, as Roxas said in his introduction, “put on hold,” with words of gratitude and assurance.

And then she introduced herself: She was not merely Jesse’s devoted wife and firm supporter. With his help, she had achieved her childhood dream, of becoming a lawyer like her father, by studying at night while working during the day. And when she passed the bar, she chose the more difficult path: “Noon pong nakamit ko ang matagal ko nang minimithi, ipinangako ko po sa aking sarili na gagamitin ko sa tama ang ipinagkaloob sa akin” (When I reached my lifelong goal, I promised myself that I would use what was given to me the right way). To this end, she said, she served first in the Public Attorney’s Office, providing legal counsel to those who could not afford it. And then she joined an alternative lawyers’ group, in which capacity she was able to work with “farmers, fishermen, workers, the urban poor, women, youth, indigenous people.”

It was an introduction that made people, even those looking cynically at campaign politics, sit up and take notice. “Hindi po ako si Jesse,” she said at one point. I am not Jesse. She must have meant it as a disclaimer, but it came across as a simple, subtle affirmation: I am my own person.