Becoming Simpleni: A reluctant impersonator for a reluctant candidate

At first glance, Joierie Pacumio doesn't seem like she would be a great fit as incoming vice president Leni Robredo. Pacumio herself wasn't initially convinced that she resembled the modest public servant from Naga City and prior to her appearance in Live AIDS as "Simpleni", a total of zero people thought they looked alike.

Just like Robredo, Pacumio — or Jo, as she prefers to be called — was thrust in a position for which she didn't feel prepared.

In an interview with GMA News Online, she related that she was meant to play another character in Live AIDS and, even when she had the new material with the "Simpleni" persona, she was still reluctant.

The video of her monologue from the show, initially posted on April 26, now has over a million views on Facebook. Jo feels like she has a ways to go in perfecting what she hesitates to call an impersonation, but now even her family teases her about being a "VP."

Her father even apologized to her when the early results of the May 9 polls showed that she — rather, Robredo — was behind Senator Bongbong Marcos by a little under a million votes.

Jo was among those who stayed up until past 4 a.m. the day after the elections, fervently praying that #LabanLeni ends in victory.

Once a fan... and still a fan

The pair have met twice, once during a sortie and the other just this week, but Jo speaks highly of Robredo and admits that she has been a fan since she first saw the widow on television.

"She seemed so strong," Jo said, marveling at the fact that Robredo was not having an emotional breakdown in front of her children and she has kept the admiration for that strength until now.

After meeting Robredo, her respect grew stronger and when asked by her friends to describe the incoming veep, she would use the phrase "totoong tao" repeatedly.

"Abot kamay mo siya," Jo said, "Hindi niya ipaparamdam sa iyo that she's running for a national position."

She admits that she finds the hate for Robredo hurtful, but when she saw how gracefully Robredo handled bashers, she stopped paying attention to them.

"Huwag na kayong makipag-away," Jo quoted Robredo.

These are the things that she admires about Robredo and when the time comes that Simpleni is no more, Jo made it clear that she has been positively influenced by the experience.

The sincerity, the warmth, and the strength are things she doesn't want to simply impersonate. Robredo, for Jo, is a source of inspiration and as Simpleni, those are the traits that she wants to do justice. -- Video by Jessica Bartolome /JST, GMA News