The Insiders [Dubredo]

Guerrilla Part 14

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I decided to open a youtube vlog channel today and do this video live in our phone camera so that we can have a material now – for what reason, I do not know. Erin noticed that at first no one is viewing the video but when we put some hashtags, the viewers increased gradually.

"Dami na natin viewers Atty, we're live sa Youtube! Say hello naman to our viewers!" Erin asked of the President and he gave a wave and smiled at the phone camera.

"Batiin mo sila Atty ng magandang hapon in Bikol." Erin asked again. He looked at her. "Turuan mo ako ma'am,"

"Sa mga viewers namin ngayon sa Youtube, babatiin daw kayo ni Atty Rody ng magandang hapon in Bikol kasi nasa Naga kami ngayon di ba Atty?" She asked him and he smiled at the camera.

"Marhay na hapon, sa lahat ng nanunuod ngayon," He greeted and we clapped our hands for him.

We rode an electric tricycle to the Jesse Robredo Museum. Erin is teaching the President some bikol words and I video them. It was such a light and funny banter.

When we reached the museum, the President looked at the status of the Mayor for a while. We video him but not say a word. He mentioned in the phone camera that the status resembles like Jesse very much. We entered and took some shots in the lobby and proceeded upstairs.

"Andito kami ngayon sa Jesse Robredo museum at nabanggit nga nito ni Atty na kakilala niya si Mayor! Bigatin ang mga friends!" I tell the camera and he laughed. We looked at the pictures and took videos of the President while he is sharing some stories about his friendship with the Mayor.

We went inside a room where a video of Jesse is talking about youth. He listened quietly and after a while he stood up in the podium of the Mayor. We asked him to pose behind but he refused.

"Bakit naman, mukhang bagay na bagay naman sa'yo sir na maging Mayor," Erin joked to him and played to our narrative that he is just an attorney.

"I wish Mayor nalang ako," He replied to her and we just laughed but I noticed his eyes sparkle in the light.

We walked further and he started talking about Jesse's works in DILG. He said that the man has done so much for the department he deserves all the credit. We walked towards the 3rd gallery and the President was quiet for most of the time. This was the gallery of Jesse as a father. We noticed that he reads the notes of Jesse to his children. He also looked at the pictures and his memorabilia.

"Yung last gallery Atty, is documenting the journey to the Mayor's death. Halika pasok tayo," I tell the President and the camera. I was told by Erin that the views to our live Youtube video already hit 50,000 viewers. We showed in the video the place and some of the videos but we did not focus much. We decided to leave the President in the area were videos are played and timeline is documented. We went towards the end, the awards that were given to Jesse and I asked Erin to talk about what happened that fateful day of August 2012.

After a while, we saw the President walk towards us, a bit dazed. The mood in the room is too serious for us to joke and he seems out of his senses. He sat down on one of the blocks as he look at the awards. I turned the video on him.

"Are you ok, Atty?"

"I remember," He started, his eyes a bit unfocused. "There was an event where the Mayor was the speaker. August yun e, I forgot what date," He continued, looking at the wall with awards for the Mayor. "I was sitting sa gitna, and I noticed no one is listening to him. Ako lang siguro. I look around and some where doing something on their phone o nagchika chika and yet the DILG Sec continue to say his piece, unfazed by the noise around him." He looked at the camera once.

"I decided to raise my hand," He continued. "He saw me and smiled and called me, 'Rody!' he said and everyone looked at me. I stood up and looked at him. 'I have a question sir,' 'Go ahead!' He replied enthusiastically. I asked him this: If today is your last day on earth, would you spend it with your family or will you still give your speech to these crowd who does not even listen to you?"

We were surprised by this sudden story of his. Looking at his eyes, he does seem like recalling a memory. "Everyone suddenly was quiet and his laughter was suddenly heard. I smiled and sat down. He knows I asked that necessary question to keep the people quiet and listen to him. I remember his answer very clearly up until today, he said.

'Rody, if today is my last day on earth, I will still speak here in front of all of you because as long as there is one person who listens to me, I know that my words still holds value.'

"Everyone was quiet after he said that, maybe because they knew that Jesse, the family man that he is, would choose family in a heartbeat. I smiled at him and gave him thumbs up because we succeeded in making the crowd quite. He laughed again and added, 'Syempre di naman ako buong araw magsasalita dito sa harap nyo kaya pagkatapos e uuwi na ako sa pamilya ko,' and everyone laughed."

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