Jesse Robredo

An “ambush” chat with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Manalastas Robredo while we were waiting for the inauguration of the UP Manila-PGH Faculty Medical Arts Building (FMAB) to begin, and the consequent research I made show that he is one of the biggest assets of the Aquino administration. His no-nonsense approach to running his office denies conjectures about his being one of the Cabinet members the President is about to let go. To my mind his determination to put in practice the President’s call for good governance as enunciated in his battle cry “Kung Walang Corrupt Walang Mahirap,” has given him enemies who want to get him out of the way.

Robredo heads the department whose mandate is to “promote peace and order, ensure public safety, and strengthen capacity of local government units through active people participation and a professionalized corps of civil servants.” Robredo’s powers call for his assisting the President in the exercise of general supervision over local governments and advise him in the promulgation of policies, rules, regulations and other issuances on the general supervision over local governments and on public order and safety.

 In the last six months of last year, under the leadership of the Secretary, the agency’s broad-ranging programs were re-aligned and new initiatives were introduced to implement internal and external governance reforms. These initiatives were carried out under the DILG’s new slogan, “Biyaheng Pinoy: Tapat na Palakad, Bayang Maunlad.”

Reforms initiated include the operationalization of a “full disclosure policy,” the establishment of the Performance Challenge Fund and Seal of Good Housekeeping.

Under the full disclosure policy, the entire Department and its attached agencies and local government units are required to disclose to the public their budgets, finances, as well as bids and public offerings. With this “breakthrough policy,” said the Secretary, “the DILG is now being considered a full disclosure agency that highly values transparency and accountability in all its transactions.” Anyone can attend contract biddings, and applications for licenses and permits are attended to readily.

For specific examples of reforms initiated, Robredo mentioned the deployment of more personnel to the fields; in the past, 15 percent of Philippine National Police were deployed to the national headquarters, and 85 percent to the fields; now the ratio is 10 percent to 90 percent field deployment, ”to augment the personnel capability of PNP units across the country.”

The finance reform initiative enabled the PNP to generate a savings of around P396 million part of which was given out as an additional Christmas bonus of P10,000 for every police personnel. This is the first time members of the PNP received the full amount of their benefits since they have been receiving only P7,000 since 2006.

 Material allowance has been raised, from P640 to P1,000 for police officers, to be used for purchase of gasoline and other materials. The increase, to benefit 132,000 officers, are now included in the General Appropriations Act.

 Firearms used to be purchased at P145,000 per piece, now, they are bought at P110,000.

The agency reviewed the unit cost of purchased fire trucks. In the past the average cost of a fire truck was P14 million; now, future acquisitions will be from P5 million to P7 million, allowing the agency to save at least 50 percent of the previous procurement cost.

I remarked, “So, you have eliminated corruption in the agency?” Robredo smiled, and said that changes have been made to improve on “the old system.”

Reforms and gains made during the last six months are many, and the DILG’s battlecry, “Tapat na Palakad, Bayang Maunlad,” will continue, through programs “that are built on the platform of good governance and contribute to the attainment of the development agenda of the national government.”

Robredo is a master in local governance. He was three times mayor of Naga City when President Noynoy plucked him to help with his campaign for the 2010 presidential election. Rumors had it that the Robredo’s style did not jibe well with the President’s advisers. Robredo told me that that was during the campaign. His view was that Noynoy should cover as much ground as possible, in fact Robredo’s schedule for him was like 20 stops a day, while the other advisers said, “quality time lang.”

The gains made by DILG show that Robredo means quality time for the government. This he utters with authority. His biodata boasts that under his leadership, Naga was transformed from a “lethargic into a “premier” city in the Bicol Region.

He completed his masters in business administration at the University of the Philippines, finishing at the top of his class as university and college scholar. Prior to that, he obtained undergraduate degrees in industrial management engineering and mechanical engineering from De La Salle University.

He joined San Miguel Corporation’s Magnolia division after his graduation from De La Salle in 1980. In 1986, he was named program director of the Bicol River Basin Development Program whose mandate was to undertake integrated area development planning in the Bicol region’s three provinces.

In 1988, he was elected mayor of Naga, the youngest Philippine city mayor at age 29. He served as mayor for an unprecedented six three-year terms as local chief executive. In recognition of his skills and competence as a leader and development manager, his peers elected him president of the League of Cities of the Philippines. He was also elected chairman of the Regional Development Council, the regional planning development body of Bicol’s six provinces and seven cities.

 In 1998-1999, he was an Edward Mason Fellow, and obtained a masters in public administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Asiaweek Magazine honored him in 1999 “for transforming Naga City from a lethargic Philippine city into one of Asia’s most improved cities. Robredo energized the bureaucracy, dramatically improved stakeholdership and people participation in governance. Today, Naga is considered a model local government in the country and a laboratory of local government innovation.”

 He has received 14 major individual awards, including the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the 1996 Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Award, the Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) Award, the 1998 Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Outstanding City Mayor of the Philippines and the first “Dangal ng Bayan” Award of the Civil Service Commission. In 2008, he was conferred an honorary doctor of Humanities degree by the Far Eastern University.

A member of the Liberal Party, he is a prime mover behind the Kaya Natin, a national movement that seeks to bring genuine change and ethical leadership in the country.

 Robredo, 51, expressed admiration for President Noynoy. “The President will not play with the crowd. He will not say something that he will not do. He really deserves the trust given to him, he is a straight and honest guy.”

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