THE “National Tsinelas Day” in honor of the late Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo was marked in 13 key areas nationwide on May 27, with the distribution of thousands of slippers or rubber sandals in poor communities.
The Linking Engaging Active Pinoys (LEAP), an organization of Filipinos for good governance, together with other groups under The CSO Guild, a hub of Tindig Pilipinas, led the observance in the cities of Caloocan, Marikina, Valenzuela, and Parañaque in the National Capital Region, and the provinces of Pangasinan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Leyte, Zamboanga.
Teddy S. Pereña, overall coordinator of the National Tsinelas Day, said they will again distribute rubber slippers to poor communities and charitable institutions on Robredo’s ninth death anniversary on August 18.
Robredo, husband of Vice President Leni Robredo, died in plane crash off Masbate.
Robredo, who served as mayor of Naga City for six terms before becoming interior secretary, wore slippers to work, thus the term “tsinelas leadership.”
For his efforts in improving Naga and empowering Nagueños, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000. His creative and sustainable projects also earned him several Galing Pook Foundation’s citations.
