Jesse Robredo: making a difference

Nothing like the sudden, dramatic death of a righteous man to provoke pangs of guilt among those who refused to render him his due. Some members of the Commission on Appointments and their constituents are now turning cartwheels to convince the public that they supported, all along, the confirmation of Jesse Robredo as interior and local government secretary. I do not believe Jesse was unduly bothered by the delay in his confirmation, nor would he be impressed by its posthumous award.

Over dinner after P-Noy’s first State of the Nation Address, Aika, Jesse Robredo’s oldest daughter, had asked him: “Pop, how long will you stay in that job?” Jesse had then served as chief of the Department of Interior and local Government for barely two weeks, and detractors doubted that he would stay in this post long enough to be confirmed. But it was a natural question; Jesse had served as mayor of Naga City for 19 years. His reply: “I really don’t know. Probably, I’d last for a week, for a month, for a year, but it doesn’t matter.”

At a conference on “Leadership Development for Social Change,” convened by the AIM Center for Bridging Leadership the following day, July 27, 2010, this conversation with his daughters became an integral part of Jesse’s keynote address. Jesse drew on his experience in local government to suggest how the participants could collectively address the conference theme: “Building a Community of Practice.”

The conference gave leaders of nongovernment organizations the chance to compare strategies they had followed in their interventions at the grassroots level, evaluate which had worked and which had failed, and analyze why they produced different results. Jesse identified the two principles that guided his own exercise of leadership.

First, leaders must measure their success on their impact on the life of the ordinary Filipino. He recalled how he had reminded high-ranking officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Services that the most telling evaluation of their performance would come from the prisoners. He warned them that he would ask the prisoners whether they were now eating better food than before.

Second, those who gain power in government must be willing to share it with the governed. Leadership is a shared responsibility. For 19 years, Jesse exercised a virtual monopoly of power in Naga City, whose people kept voting for his entire ticket. But in 2005, he pushed for local legislation that empowered an NGO representative to monitor and raise questions about what the city was doing. His government would “walk the talk” and ensure that the city government was transparent in its activities and accountable to its citizens.

Jesse also believed that the citizens, if they are to share the privilege and the burden of leadership, must prepare themselves for it. Toward this end, he initiated in 2008 the establishment of the Naga City Governance Institute to inculcate the values of good governance among those who aspire to lead and thus help to realize this “gospel” of shared leadership.

His commitment to the principle of leadership as shared responsibility explains, I think, why he was able to tell his daughters that the length of his tenure at the DILG did not matter. “It doesn’t matter,” he explained to them, “because I believe I’m here … just to make a difference, given the kind of training and experience that I had.” Their next question was: “What is it that you’re going to do after [DILG]?” His response: “If by chance I don’t stay long, I will find another position or job where I can make a difference.”

A private person, Jesse nevertheless shared his private conversation with his daughters. “I am telling you all of these,” he said, so that “hopefully, we will always remember that we are given the opportunity to lead, not because of ourselves, but because people hope that we will be in the service of others.”

Jesse appreciated the scope and reach of the DILG and its immense potential to help the people or to hurt them. Still, for Jesse, the DILG was just one platform for service, one arena for making a difference. He would not care that the doubters were proven correct: He would not get confirmation from the Commission on Appointments.

No matter; Jesse did not need the blessings of the commission to make a difference. Public expressions of gratitude for services rendered and grief over possibilities that would not be fulfilled confirm Jesse’s place in the hearts of the people he served.

Death cruelly cut short not just Jesse’s term at the DILG but also his ability to serve in other areas. No matter; for people of faith, even death has meaning. May his death in the line of duty awaken among more Filipinos the desire to make a difference.

Edilberto C. de Jesus is professor emeritus at the Asian Institute of Management. E-mail: [email protected].