Richard Juico Gordon (born August 5, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who most recently served as a Senator from 2016 to 2022, and previously from 2004 to 2010. He is the chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross since 2004.
Gordon was born in Castillejos, Zambales. His father, James L. Gordon, was Olongapo's first elected mayor who served from 1963 until he was assassinated in 1967.[1] His mother, Amelia Gordon, succeeded James as Olongapo mayor until 1972 and served as assemblywoman in the Batasang Pambansa in 1984.[2] Gordon has American ancestry through his paternal grandfather John Jacob Gordon, a United States Army officer.[3]
In 1980, he was elected mayor of Olongapo. During his term as mayor, Olongapo became a highly urbanized city in 1983. Gordon prioritized raising police accountability through I.D. systems, proper health and sanitation, waste management, and the strict implementation of a color-coding scheme for public transportation vehicles.[7]
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the provisional government of President Corazon Aquino issued an order for Gordon to vacate his position as Olongapo mayor, which Gordon refused in the absence of a written dismissal order. A former member of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, Gordon was one of several local officials removed in a housecleaning effort by the Aquino government to replace potential loyalists of Ferdinand Marcos.[8] The political crisis resulted in protests and clashes between Gordon's supporters and the supporters of Aquino's appointee Teodoro Macapagal.[9] Gordon eventually made way for Macapagal after a formal written directive was issued by then-executive secretary Joker Arroyo.[6] Gordon would be re-elected back to the position in 1988.
As mayor of Olongapo, Gordon described himself as a "pragmatist."[10] Gordon defended the American military presence in Subic Bay by arguing that the Philippines is neither militarily nor economically prepared to lose the naval bases, citing the $500 million income generated per year from spending by U.S. servicemen and from the salaries of thousands of Filipino employees and contractors in the bases.[11] Despite shutting down the "seedier" aspects of Olongapo's nightlife, Gordon defended the presence of bars and brothels in Olongapo, and also spoke positively of the income earned by the 6,000 licensed "bar girls" in the city.[12] In 1988, Gordon led the city's efforts of stemming an HIV/AIDS outbreak in prostitutes that catered to US servicemen by conducting monthly meetings with HIV-positive prostitutes, offering them alternative livelihoods, and ensuring that they cooperated with city health officials.[11][13]
Chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (1992–1998)
In the 1992 election, Gordon won his re-election bid as Olongapo mayor. In the same year, he was also appointed the chairmanship of the newly-established Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) by President Fidel V. Ramos.[14] However, the 1987 Constitution prohibits elected officials from holding appointive positions in a public office during their tenure. Thus, the Supreme Court ruled that Gordon must choose which position to keep.[15] Gordon decided to vacate his position as mayor and assumed the position of SBMA chairman in full capacity.[16]
In 1992, Gordon was credited for organizing thousands of volunteers to clean volcanic ash, and maintain security in the former base, preventing the looting that had occurred in Clark Air Base earlier in the year.[17][18]
During Gordon's term, Subic experienced significant economic growth with 200 companies investing $1.6 billion in Subic and manufacturing exports reaching $263 million in 1996.[19] Gordon was also influential in convincing FedEx to establish their Asian regional hub in Subic in 1995.[20]
In 1998, Gordon resigned as chairman of the SBMA in order to run for president in the upcoming election. However, he eventually backed out from pursuing his candidacy. Gordon was later re-appointed by the outgoing president Ramos as chairman for a new six-year term.[21][22]
After winning the 1998 presidential elections, newly elected President Joseph Estrada's immediately issued his first administrative order removing Gordon as chairman of the SBMA on June 30, 1998.[23] Gordon and Estrada had previously formed a bitter rivalry in 1989 when Gordon prohibited Estrada from filming an anti-bases movie inside Subic and Olongapo, with Estada claiming his film crew were pelted with stones by Gordon's supporters.[24] Despite Estrada's orders, Gordon refused to vacate his office while his supporters erected barricades in the SBMA premises. On July 26, 1998, police broke through the barricades and clashed with Gordon's supporters, resulting in at least 95 injuries.[24] According to The Wall Street Journal, the incident damaged Subic's reputation as an investment destination and cost the local economy an estimated $3.5 million of lost income per day of the 'siege'.[25][26]
In January 2001, Gordon actively participated in the second EDSA Revolution that led to the removal of Joseph Estrada from the presidency.[27] Estrada's successor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed Gordon as secretary of the Department of Tourism on January 24, 2001.[28]
Gordon, with U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and Filipino military officers, preparing for relief operations for the victims of Typhoon Frank (June 2008).
In the 2004 election, Gordon ran for senator under the Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (transl. Coalition of Truth and Experience for Tomorrow) electoral alliance of President Arroyo. He won the election with 12,707,151 votes, ranking fifth in the overall tabulation.[30]
As senator, Gordon authored laws such as the Filipino World War II Veterans Pensions and Benefits Act,[31] the National Tourism Policy Act,[32] the Free Patent Law,[33] and the Philippine Disaster Reduction and Management Act.[34] He was also responsible for the passage of Automated Elections Systems Law which was piloted in the 2008 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections.[35]
Bagumbayan-VNP's national convention on April 27, 2009
On April 26, 2009, the Bagumbayan Movement held a formal launch event at the Rizal Park and in the Manila Hotel. The movement, which advocated "transformative politics", served to push for the presidential candidacy of Gordon in the upcoming election.[38][39] It was later recognized as a political party by the Commission on Elections in October 2009.[40]
On November 29, 2009, Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando revealed that he and Gordon were having discussions on a possible team-up for the 2010 elections.[41] A few days later, on December 1, 2009, Gordon and Fernando officially announced their tandem during a press conference at the senate press office in Pasay, with Gordon running for the presidency and Fernando running for the vice presidency. During the press conference, they billed themselves as "the transformers" who intend to "transform the nation".[40] Later in the day, the tandem filed their certificates of candidacy in the COMELEC main office.[42]
Gordon speaks with United States ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim.
Gordon ran in the 2016 Senate election as an independent candidate and won, finishing fifth.[46]
In September 2016, Gordon replaced Senator Leila de Lima as chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, after the senate voted to declare all committee positions vacant.[47] After only six hearings, Gordon controversially ended the senate probe on the rise of killings associated with the Philippine drug war, concluding that the extrajudicial killings were not state sponsored or sanctioned by the Duterte administration.[48] Gordon also found "no proof" that the Davao Death Squad existed or that the killings were ordered by then-Davao mayor Duterte.[49][50]
On August 15, 2017, Gordon exonerated President Duterte's son Paolo Duterte of involvement in a shabu smuggling scheme.[51] In September 2017, Gordon was one of the seven senators that did not sign a senate resolution urging the government to stop the spate of killings.[52] Gordon claimed, along with the other seven senators, that they were simply not aware of the resolution being passed around.[53]
In 2021, Gordon headed the senate investigation on the government's procurement of overpriced pandemic-related goods.[55] The probe, which implicated close associates of the president, resulted in Duterte and Gordon engaging in a high profile word war and exchange of legal threats.[56][57][58]
On October 8, 2021, Gordon announced that he would for run for re-election as a senator in the 2022 election.[67] The election was held on 9 May 2022; Gordon conceded defeat after early returns from the unofficial and partial COMELEC vote counts indicated that his deficit was too great to overcome.[68] This was confirmed by the final results, in which he finished twenty-second in a race to fill twelve seats elected from the nation at large.
Gordon is married to Katherine Gordon, who served as congressman of the first district of Zambales from 1988 to 1995. She succeeded her husband as mayor of Olongapo in 1995 and served three consecutive terms until 2004. They have four children.[16]
Following the end of his Senate term in 2010, Gordon anchored Aksyon Solusyon with Amelyn Veloso on Radyo5 92.3 News FM and AksyonTV. He also co-hosted Duelo with Jake Macasaet, which aired weeknights on AksyonTV.[69] Gordon also hosts his public service program Lingkod Aksyon, which airs every Sunday morning on TeleRadyo (originally DZMM), alongside Jeffrey Hernaez.
Awards
Gordon is a recipient of various awards, such as the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL), the University of the Philippines' Most Outstanding Alumnus in Public Service and its Most Distinguished Alumnus. The latter is the highest award that could be bestowed by the UP Law Alumni Association.[70]
Gordon was also awarded the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency's Lifetime National Volunteer Achievement Award, the sole recipient of the award in 2015.[70]
Gordon has been awarded the three highest awards from the Red Cross: the Aurora Aragon Quezon Medal, the Silver Humanitarian Service Cross Award and the Gold Humanitarian Service Cross Award.[70]
Gordon was also a recipient of the Japanese Red Cross Gold Humanitarian Award. He also received recognition from various foreign media such as Asiaweek's Twenty Great Asians of the Future and Asahi Shimbun's 50 Young Leaders of Asia, among others.[70]
^Moriones-Doromal, Cherry (February 22, 2011). "Dick Gordon on Radio and Tv". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
