AN interesting biographical profile of Naga City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo now appears in Volume14 of “The Ramon Magsaysay Awards”, the book of record of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. The multi-awarded mayor is the Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for government service in 2000, so far one of only two Bicolanos to have been conferred with the prestigious award (the other is Mr. & Ms. and former Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Eugenia Duran Apostol, a Sorsogueña, for journalism in 2006).

        Veteran freelance journalist and writer Lorna Kalaw-Tirol penned the profile on Robredo. She is the readers’ advocate (ombudsman) of the Inquirer and was co-founder of the fearless Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). Her anthology of personality profiles, “Public Faces, Private Lives”, won the National Book Award given by the Manila Circle in 2000, the same year that Robredo won the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

        To those who until now are wondering what made the then young mayor Robredo sever his ties with erstwhile political patron Luis Robredo Villafuerte, a page in the book by Tirol provides the answer. And it tempts me to share with my readers excerpts from Page 15 of Tirol’s biographical profile of Robredo. Read on:

        “True to a promise he made during the (1988) campaign, Robredo closed down the city’s gambling joints and nightclubs, which were actually fronts for drug dens. These, he said, were the symbols of what government should not be. It was not an easy task to close the gambling places. The usual practice in the appointment of the chief of police was for the mayor to choose from among three nominees submitted by the provincial command of the Philippine National Police. Villafuerte (then governor) wanted the new mayor to appoint a man who had been his classmate. Robredo refused, knowing that the man did not share his position on gambling. Villafuerte then got the support of the Office of the President in Manila, and his protégé was appointed. Refusing to buckle, Robredo went to the archbishop of Caceres, Monsignor Leonardo Z. Legaspi, who had earlier written him to express pleasure over the mayor’s refusal to accept money from gambling. The archbishop, in turn, appealed to President Aquino for help and two weeks later the chief of police was unseated.

        “Villafuerte’s disagreement with Robredo’s tough stance against jueteng, an illegal numbers game popular among provincial Filipinos, spelled the beginning of a falling out between them. Robredo had proven that he was his own man and that he meant to stay that way. But the same willfulness boosted his stock among his constituents, who realized he really meant business.

        “Robredo waged his crusade against drugs (marijuana and, later, shabu), gambling, and other forms of vice with only four policemen, who comprised his anti-vice squad. They were members of the regular police force but were assigned to be his bodyguards during the campaign. Noww they were the mayor’s police force based at City Hall, as distinguished from the city’s regular 110-person contingent (they had since been returned to their regular posts at the Naga PNP – jbp). When a drug dealer was arrested, for example, Robredo made it a point to call the media. The resultant publicity served two purposes: first, to inform the people that something was being done against vice lords; and second, to show the regular police force what they should be doing.

        “While his administration did not completely eliminate drugs, it did stop jueteng – although, with active support from the police, this popular vice did occasionally resurface. Robredo was aware of this and confronted the regional commander at the office of Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan – although, with active support from the police, this popular vice did occasionally resurface. Robredo was aware of this and confronted the regional commander at the office of Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan. Once Robredo had made his position clear, the jueteng joints disappeared from Naga but moved to its fringes.”

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        Why: the Cong. Villafuerte camp is sored at Naga City’s noble project, QUEEN (for Quality Universal Elementary Education in Naga) is beyond me. The multi-sectoral initiative being frontlined by Galing Pook awardee Naga City School Board seeks to help parents from financially distressed families ensure that their children, upon reaching school age, are promptly and properly enrolled in Grade 1 and that they all finish up to Grade 6 by augmenting, among others, their basic material needs such as fees, food, and school supplies. The project was prompted by the fact that while Naga City schoolchildren have been consistently hitting the 100% participation rate in schools, only 67% are able to finish Grade 6. Camarines Sur on the other hand, which registered participation rate of 84% (among the lowest in Bicol), only 61% finish their elementary grade. Evidently, both Naga and Camarines Sur must be worried about this alarming statistics. Sixteen years ago, Naga’s completion rate was better at 78% which meant that for every 10 pupils enrolled in Grade 1, at least 7 or 8 of them finished their Grade 6.