Robredo, not Robredon't

Tonight --upon 4-Ku's initiative-- we hosted a small dinner for my Ninong, "acting" Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government and current crab mentality victim Jesse Robredo.

Jesse and his wife Lenny --close family friends since my parents were kids-- were selected to be my godparents for my Catholic Confirmation in SJCS. (Another pair was being considered but eventually passed over because my sister thought they would've spoiled me rotten.) To my knowledge they're the only living godparents I have left and ones I had a say in choosing, as I know next-to-nothing about my baptismal godparents.

The man is barely 2 months into his post and all it took was one disgruntled, most-likely crooked, trigger happy ex-cop, a bus full of tourists and a media $#!+storm to threaten the good he's barely done and will do. 4-Ku wanted to see him and ask how we was doing. His worrying was for naught (reading the papers lately doesn't help), since Ninong Jess said he's doing fine (not reading the papers helps him stay that way). You don't get to be a man w/ this much integrity w/o being thick-skinned.

It's also this integrity that makes me believe him when he said was informed too-little-too-late about the hostage situation (w/c was horribly mishandled and mismanaged), and that he really wants to help the PNP grunts, but of course the power to do so was taken away by The President.

He says he won't resign, but won't fight if he's fired for the sake of politics. Any would-be replacement won't do the job better than him, but will probably be more willing to "play the game." Oh, and Jesus Versoza is a real boob and should've retired earlier.

If all this is coming off as one-sided and name-droppish that wasn't my intention. He doesn't need me to defend him, and he already knows that family and friends are behind him all the way. I'm doing this for me. I'm proud to be his godson. I'm lucky to know someone who's good at what he does and will do it for the good of others. To know that there's a good guy in government gives me the kind of hope having Noynoy Aquino as president never will.

(Yes, the irony of Ninong Jess campaigning for Noynoy does not escape me; but I with Dick Gordon called him, instead.)