Jesse Robredo was a rare figure in the Phillipines: a government minister the people could like and trust.]

As mayor of Naga City for 20 years, he earned a reputation for running the municipality fairly. Brought into President Benigno Aquino's reform-minded administration as secretary of the interior and local government, he earned a reputation for pragmatism.

But Robredo's promising career was cut short on August 18, when a small propeller plane carrying him to see his daughter's swimming competition in his home city crashed in the ocean.

Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reports from Manila.