The official results have not yet been released but Congresswoman Leni Robredo could very well be the country’s next Vice President. But aside from being a politician, she is also the mother of 3 daughters: Aika, Tricia and Jillian. Did you know that they are evenly spaced 6 years apart from each other?
Tiger mom
After a thanksgiving mass held on May 15, 2016, Tricia Robredo, who studies at the Ateneo School of Medicine, shared that their “tiger mom” expects three things from them: Do well in school, have a sport, and have a musical instrument.
But apart from having high expectations, Leni was also there to support them all the way. If they had training at 4 in the morning, she would be the one to drive them. She is also the type of mom who sits in the front row holding a video camera whenever they have recitals or competitions.
Mommy duties
After that introduction, it was Leni’s turn to speak. In the process of talking about the elections, she also shared the birth story of her firstborn.
Most first-time moms are excited and prepare for their first baby’s arrival well before their due date. However, for her, it was also the time her husband, the late Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo, was running for mayor.
It was Jesse’s first foray into politics and Leni was the one-person team helping him campaign. She was due to give birth in March of 1988; the elections would take place in January. So, she decided she could focus on the baby’s arrival after the campaign period.
As fate would have it, on the day she would give birth to Aika, she had to drive a truck up a mountain because her husband needed a generator set. She was 7 months pregnant!
Jesse’s running mate at that time was a doctor who told her that she looked like she was already about to give birth. Leni brushed it off and said that she was not yet due. Sure enough, her water broke after driving the truck back down. She gave birth in the hospital without her husband. “Dumating ang asawa ko may anak na siya (By the time my husband came, he already had a child),” she quipped.
READ: 5 Parenting Lessons from Leni Robredo
No stranger to sacrifice and working hard to make things happen, Leni Robredo was able to make 147 visits to 51 provinces – the most among all candidates – within the 90-day campaign period.
She is already being dubbed the ‘mother of the nation’.
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