“May mama na ako sa graduation! Thank you, VP Leni Robredo.”
It came like a dream for graduating student Jemimah Limbo on the night when presidential candidate Leni Robredo went to Antipolo City for a campaign rally, and the latter read her message, “Leni, wala akong mama sa graduation, baka puwedeng ikaw na lang?” To which the vice president replied, “Sure! Kailan ang graduation mo? October, ayan sabihan mo ako.”
But it was not really “just a dream”, as VP Leni, on Twitter, replied to her tweet and vowed to attend her graduation ceremony. “‘Pag fixed na grad [graduation] date, please tell me agad. Congratulations!”
In a YouTube vlog, Jemimah shared that her mother, an overseas Filipino worker in Japan, will not be able to attend her graduation rites due to a number of considerations. Being a Leni supporter at heart, she shared, she and her friends used to joke about inviting “Mama Leni” to be there in place of her mom.
“‘Yong mama ko po, nasa Japan, working, and hindi po namin iri-risk na umuwi siya sa Philippines since may COVID pa rin naman and senior na rin kasi si Mama, and siyempre, mahal ang pamasahe,” she shared.
“Nakatulala, nakanganga lang ako, kasi hindi ko alam kung paano ipa-process,” she continued; recalling how she reacted when a representative of VP Leni reached out to her and asked for her phone number.
“Hindi ko po talaga ine-expect na mangyayari ‘to in one snap,” she expressed.
‘A love that inspires’
In a heartwarming post following her mother’s proclamation rally, Tricia Robredo earlier shared one of their conversations before her mother filed her candidacy a few months back.
“It took a lot of whys and why nots before she arrived at the decision to run. Over dinner, just a few short nights before she filed her candidacy, my sisters and I asked why we couldn’t just pack up, exit quietly, and let things run their natural course. We already knew what was at stake, but we asked anyway just to exhaust everything out,” Tricia wrote.
“Mama’s always been objective and she rarely gets emotional or fragile. But at one point in that conversation, I remember her saying, ‘Paano na nasimulan ni Papa?’” she continued.
And when she saw the big crowd cheering for her mother during the rally, it all became worth it.
“We’ve been talking about hope a lot more recently. As someone who’s also been jaded for quite some time, I find it refreshing and electrifying. We fight because we hope for better. But coming home to Naga and seeing my Mama last night, I’m reminded of something that’s just as precious and just as powerful. A love that remembers, a love that inspires, a love that transcends. For country. For city. For Jesse,” she expressed.
“Ang nagmamahal walang-sawang ipaglalaban ang minamahal. Walang dapat ikatakot,” she added.