Vice President Leni Robredo believes that history will judge the late former President Benigno Aquino III kindly even as “wrongful accusations and disinformation” were hurled against him in the past five years.
Robredo said the people who saw him up close are in grief because “he was not just a friend” but “a public servant we all strive to become.”
“The past five years has been painful for us because we saw, first hand, how wrongful accusations and disinformation were spewed to diminish his legacy. A lot of people were made to believe them but facts and numbers don’t lie,” she posted on Facebook on Saturday, June 26, the day Aquino was brought to his final resting place.
“I have no doubt that history will give him his due,” she added.
Robredo and her two daughters—Aika and Tricia—attended the mass for Aquino, who died on Thursday, June 24, at the age of 61 because of renal failure secondary to diabetes.
“We have many ways of coping with grief. For me and my children, we remember the goodness he showered our family with. The recollection comes in trickles. And I will try to post them for posterity,” Robredo said.
Earlier, she shared how Aquino comforted her when her husband, former Interior secretary Jesse Robredo died.
READ: Robredo reveals PNoy offered hero’s burial for husband Jesse
But more than these tragic times, the vice president talked about the light moments she shared with the late President, particularly about his love for music.
“Early on, when he learned that Betcha By Golly Wow was one of the songs I associated with Jesse, he would ask people, including his CabSecs, to sing that in my presence,” Robredo said.
“I remember one time we were in Naga, in one of his visits, while we were eating lunch at The Park restaurant, he suddenly played Betcha By Golly Wow from his Spotify and asked our tablemates to sing for me,” she added.
And during Jesse’s cremation in August 2012, as they were walking to the Basilica Minore in Naga City and a band was playing “My Love Will See You Through,” Aquino “started singing with the band” because she told him that it was Jesse’s favorite karaoke song.
Robredo recalled that when local artist Jaya sang one of Aquino’s favorite songs, “Minsan ang Minahal ay Ako” on Friday’s wake in Ateneo, she remembered how he let her listen to the same song on his headphones.
“When I said it was so beautiful, he gave me a copy of Aiza Seguerra’s CD with this song. He was passionate about music and loved singing,” she said.
Robredo will join the convoy that will bring the former President’s ashes to the Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque, where he will lie beside his parents, democracy icons Cory Aquino and Ninoy Aquino Jr.