OFWs express sorrow, admiration for Jessie Robredo

The Philippine Embassy leads Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom officially expressed condolences over the the death of Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo. The minister was killed in a plane crash last Saturday afternoon at sea off Masbate Island in the central Philippines.
“I and the embassy staff join the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia in expressing sorrow over his demise and in condoling with the late Interior Secretary’s wife Leny and kids as well as the Philippine government led by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino lll and the Filipino people,” Tago told Arab News on Wednesday.
The body of Robredo was found from a depth of 180 feet at 7:45 a.m. last Tuesday. His plane crashed off Ibingay village in Masbate City Saturday afternoon while attempting to make an emergency landing.
His security aide Jun Abrazado survived the crash and was rescued by fishermen, but Capt. Jessup Bahinting who owned the Seneca Piper and co-pilot Kshitz Chand, a Nepalese, went down with him in the plane. The plane came from Mactan Airport in Cebu City where Robredo represented Aquino in an inauguration ceremony and was flying to Naga City when the pilot sent a distress call to the Masbate Airport at around 5 p.m. requesting for an emergency landing. Robredo had served as Naga City mayor for 18 years before becoming secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“He could have have been the best president that we never had,” said Eric P. Asi, a senior electrical engineer at Nardeen Lighting in Riyadh, adding that “Robredo had exemplified good governance while interior secretary as well as during his tenure as mayor of Naga City.”
Robredo was awarded the Ramong Magsaysay Award, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, and the Dangal ng Bayan (Pride of Country), the highest award given to government officials or employees for exemplary public service. Marcial “Jun” Nacion, a community leader in Riyadh, noted that Robredo had been bypassed before by the Commission on Appointments (CA) as DILG secretary.
“But now, the CA is scrambling to honor Robredo in death,” said Nacion, who, like Robredo, also comes from the Bicol Region.
Robredo was supposed to be confirmed last Aug. 15 but this was postponed in deference to the necrological services for another Bicolano, Sorsorgon Rep. Salvador Escudero who died of cancer, according to commission members Roilo Golez and Antonio Alvarez.
In Al-Khobar, Mary Jane Tupas, a community leader and Bagong Bayani Awardee in 2007, said, “Robredo’s death makes the heart sink. The Filipino people are minus one good and exemplary official because of his passing.”
Tupas, also the nursing director of the Mohammad Al-Dossary Hospital, added that the Philippine Nurses Association in Eastern Region in Saudi Arabia (PNA-ERSA) and the OFW Congress join the Filipinos in the Kingdom in their sorrow over Robredo’s death.

Tupas is the president of both organizations.

In Qassim, Dionisio B. Tabuco Jr., president of the Buraidah-based Samahan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Gassim or Association of Filipino Workers in Qassim (SAMPIGA), also expressed sadness over Robredo’s death “He was an example of simplicity in life but effectivity in service. I hope that another official will follow in his footsteps at the DILG,” he said. Aquino has appointed Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa as DILG officer in charge.

In Jeddah, July A. Palomar, board member of the Integrated Institute of Electrical Engineers (IIEE), also expressed sadness.

“It goes without saying that my heart sinks over our loss due to Robredo’s passing. I join the hundreds of thousands of Filipino overseas workers who, like me, are clamoring for good governance,” he said.