Robredo will receive full military honors, wake to be held at Malacañang

THE family of Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has accepted the offer of Malacañang to conduct a state funeral.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said full military honors will be given to Robredo, who died in a plane crash last Saturday.

Communications Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III said books of condolence will be opened in Philippine consulates and embassies.

All government offices are also required to raise flags at half-staff in honor of Robredo.

The City Governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu raised their flags to half-staff starting yesterday at the start of the national period of mourning for Robredo.

Good governance

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza expressed condolences to Robredo’s family.

“The country has lost a catalyst of good governance. I hope that his untimely passing will not extinguish the flame of good governance,” Radaza said in a statement.

She also assured the families of Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand, pilots of the plane Robredo rode in, of her prayers.

Before the incident, Robredo had official engagements in Cebu, including the groundbreaking of the new PNP Regional Training Center in Consolacion town.

Members of the Liberal Party are saddened by the death of Robredo, whom they described as an exemplary public official.

Rep. Luigi Quisumbing (Cebu, sixth district) said Robredo was “one of the most dynamic public servants in the nation.”

Merit system

Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado said Cebu mayors learned how to spend public funds wisely from Robredo.

He also encouraged local officials to perform better, she said.

Alegado said Robredo, as head of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), established a merit system, or the seal of good governance, for local governments that implement projects that benefit the majority.

Robredo also required full disclosure on public funds spending by local governments through the DILG website.

“If you are a mayor or governor, you should not sleep on the job because Secretary Robredo is monitoring you. If you lie in your report, Robredo will know because (he) has a way of double-checking it,” Alegado said.

Quezon, whose office is tasked with preparations for the funeral, said Robredo’s remains will be brought to Malacañang on Friday.

The PNP will escort Robredo’s remains from the Archbishop's Palace to the Naga City Airport and conduct departure honors at airport.

Gun salute

The plane that will carry the secretary’s remains is set to land in the Villamor Air Base in Metro Manila, where arrival honors will be rendered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Presidential Security Group (PSG) will escort Robredo's casket from the airbase to Malacañang. The PSG will give arrival honors that will a gun salute at the palace.

Robredo's remains will lie in state in Malacañang from Friday to Sunday morning.

Quezon said the committee has yet to decide where exactly in Malacañang the wake will be held but Robredo’s daughter Jessica Marie “Aika,” said in her Facebook account that the wake will be at the Palace's Kalayaan Hall.

Quezon could not say if the wake will be open to the public but he assured that there will be a full coverage of all activities related to Robredo's funeral.

The same honors will be rendered when Robredo’s remains are transferred to Naga City.

Highest honor

Quezon said a state funeral is the highest possible honor afforded to an individual.

Under the law, only the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, Senate
President, national artists and medal of valor recipients are afforded state funerals.

But the President has the prerogative to grant a state funeral to someone he considers worthy, said Quezon.

He added that traditionally, only wakes of Presidents are held in the Palace, particularly in the Rizal Hall, but there were some recent exceptions.

He cited President Gloria Arroyo’s decision to hold the wake of press secretary Cerge Remonde at the Malacanang's Heroes Hall.

President Benigno Aquino III earlier declared Aug. 21 until the day of interment of Robredo as national days of mourning.

Functions

Meanwhile, DILG Cebu Director Jerome Gonzales said the department will continue to function even as it mourns the death of Secretary Robredo.

He said DILG personnel will attend to their tasks under Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., who was appointed by Malacañamg as officer-in-charge of the department.

Robredo’s death has overtaken the DILG’s decision on the 90-day preventive suspension of Vice Mayor Cynthia Moreno and seven municipal officials of Aloguinsan, Cebu.

Gonzales said the legal division of the DILG central office will resolve the letter of DILG 7’s Ananias VIllacorta, asking if the preventive suspension ordered by the Sandiganbayan would still push through, considering Moreno has a pending petition before the Supreme Court.

The Aloguinsan officials were accused of committing irregularities for purchasing construction materials worth P1 million without bidding.(Sunnex)