Bell tolls too soon for a true patriot; nation is amputated

Bell tolls too soon for a true

patriot; nation is amputated

By Alex P. Vidal

“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” JOHN DONNE

LOS ANGELES, California -- As Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, eldest daughter of the late former President Corazon Aquino and the late former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquno Jr. and sister of President Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino succinctly sighed, “Matagal na kaming beleb sa kanya (We have been impressed with him for a long time already).”

I have interviewed Senator Franklin Drilon several times since he was labor secretary under the Cory administration and he always put up an intrepid face even amid blitzkrieg from MAD (Movement Against Drilon) provocateurs; but when he was interviewed by Manila reporters shortly after DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo’s body was retrieved from the private plane at the depth of around 180 feet resting upside down in the waters off Masbate August 21, the senator from Iloilo bursts in tears like he lost his own brother.

DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas as well as the other cabinet officials of President Aquino also grieved the loss of a “very sincere, honest and hard-working colleague” who, despite his busy schedule, always had time to tutor his children and be with his family during weekends.  

So well-loved was the man who became the Philippines’ youngest city mayor at 29 in 1988 that the whole Naga city or the entire Camarines Sur for that matter grieved like a nation that wept when President Ramon Magsaysay, the best ever Philippine president, was killed in aircraft disaster on March 17, 1957.

PARELLEL

There indeed was parallelism between Magsaysay and Robredo as public servants. Both were active stalwarts of the Liberal Party; they were highly touted and much admired by both their peers and supporters owing to their extraordinary methods in governance and their Spartan-like lifestyles that is difficult to emulate in today’s hodgepodge of modern leaders.

Those who chronicled Robredo’s eye-catching styles as mayor of a hitherto mediocre city that turned into bustling economic hub described him as a pragmatic go-getter who buckled down to work and torpedoed inefficient bureaucracy and illegal gambling as among his fast-tracked accomplishments that catapulted him into stardom when he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000, the first Filipino mayor so honored.

So colorful was Robredo’s life that he was fancied as the perfect epitome of President Aquino’s “Tuwid Na Daan” slogan in public service. For his constituents in Naga, he was a simple guy who walked in slippers and plain shirt with no bodyguard. For his subordinates in the DILG, “he was like one of us ordinary employees,” they chorused.  Robreo studied at Naga Parochial School, a private Catholic school in Naga City, for his elementary education. Robredo began to hone his talent and love for the game of chess while in elementary. Naga Parochial School was known and had established a record for winning Bicol's annual province-wide chess tournament and Robredo's brother had been among its champion competitors.

Robredo studied at Ateneo de Naga in 1970. In September 1972, when Robredo was in the middle of high school, President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. Ateneo de Naga and its administration immediately called for an assembly and warned its students against getting involved in anti-government activities and efforts that this may result to the school's exposure to the risk of closure.

DEGREES

Robredo obtained his undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at De La Salle University. Robredo was an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters of Public Administration at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999. In 1985, Robredo finished his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, as a scholar and was named the Graduate School and Faculty Organization awardee for scholarly excellence.

Like Magsaysay, Robredo came from a speaking engagement in Cebu representing the President and was in a hurry to fly back to Naga to attend his daughter’s swimming competition, when the Piper PA-34-200 Seneca I aircraft (registered RP-C4431) crashed on August 18 at around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Magsaysay left Manila for Cebu City on March 16, 1957 where he spoke at three educational institutions. That same night, at about one o’clock in the morning, he boarded the presidential plane "Mt. Pinatubo", a C-47, heading back to Manila. In the early morning hours of 17 March, the plane was reported missing. By late afternoon, newspapers had reported the airplane had crashed on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, and that 36 of the 56 aboard were killed (the actual number on board was 25, including Magsaysay). Vice-President Carlos García, who was on official visit to Australia at the time, assumed the presidency to serve out the last eight months of Magsaysay's term.

An estimated five million people attended Magsaysay's burial on March 31, 1957. He was posthumously referred to by the people the "Idol of the Masses".

Only newspaperman Nestor Mata survived the plane crash that killed Magsaysay. Police Senior Insp. Jun Abrazado, Robredo’s bodyguard, was also the lone survivor.

When great public servants like Magsaysay and Robredo perish at a time when their services were needed most, the whole nation is amputated.