Gordon sure on Election Day

There are several things I like about the Bagumbayan Volunteers for a New Philippines Party standard bearer Richard “Dick” Gordon. He is a very optimistic person, he comes across as an action-man, and he is perceived to be honest in his intention to make the government graft- and -corruption-free and to make the economy work.

The senator from Zambales is not daunted by survey results showing him down the tail end of surveys. He does not, in fact, care about surveys. The results of the election in May will show the real results of people’s choices, he says. And, “the most important factor in this election is what you’ve done for this country.”

 He says the qualifications and track record of a candidate “are what the electorate must look into. If we are to believe in surveys, then let’s not hold elections anymore, let us just conduct surveys. The real survey is the survey on May 10, when all votes will be counted, not just the votes of 1,200 respondents.“

 He said that when he ran for senator in 2003, he was No. 29 in the surveys, but after the elections, he turned out to be No. 5. The people voted him, he said, based on what he had done as mayor of Olongapo, founding chairman of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and secretary of tourism — and not because of   money, pedigree, or popularity. If he has become more popular than before, it’s because of his being head of the Philippine National Red Cross, which sends him to areas hit by calamities and look after the victims’ and evacuees’needs.

 He goes around, with head held high, with his characteristic pout and reformed American accent, saying he has a better agenda than the other presidential contenders. Dick may appear somewhat strict, but he is actually a nice guy willing to listen to one’s woes.

I asked him at the Manila Overseas Press Club’s presidentiables series at Intercontinental Hotel, when we could expect changes he talked about once he is elected president — during the first 100 days, or the first year? He replied, “Starting on Day One!” He recalled asking a government official to pick up a cigarette butt he had thrown on the floor in Dick’s presence. The poor guy was startled, but picked it up anyway.

That’s how Dick will work as president as he wipes out corrupt officials and employees from top to bottom of the bureaucracy. He will fire the incompetent and inefficient. He pointed out that at Subic, upon his initiation, erring vehicle drivers were fined - as they still are. See what an efficient, non-nonsense administration can do?

This presidential candidate believes that change will come about by first changing Filipinos’ attitudes and behavior.  That’s a tough job, but he believes that government efforts to effect changes must be supported by the people.

There will be no favors, he said. One has to work to get something. You don’t work, you don’t eat. People on drugs — he would say, go ahead and kill yourself. People who fool around he will lock up in jail.

 As to his position on the reproductive health bill, he does not want government to dictate a population policy, but couples should be free to decide the number of children they want to have and that they be given access to family planning information. He said 37 years ago, he and his wife Kate agreed that Kate would have a tubal ligation after their fourth child was born. Later, after the program, I asked Kate why Dick did not have a vasectomy instead. The charming Kate, a former House representative, laughed, and said, “We didn’t know anything about vasectomy then.”

Back to the forum, sitting between MOPC officials was Dick’s sparring partner, Bayani Fernando, former Metropolitan Manila Development Administration head. Bayani was not asked to say something. But the partnership between Dick and Bayani impresses many, as they are both performance and action-oriented. You can imagine how things would be when both are elected to the two highest positions in the land — cooperating, agreeing, not fighting, not trying to put one over on the other, working together to serve the country they love.

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Speaking of candidates with a heart, there’s Alex Lacson, of Bacolod City, who is running as senator under the banner of the Liberal Party. Alex, a lawyer, is known in his environs for helping people, like sending to school all six children of a brother, and defending and organizing a protest rally for a schoolmate in high school who was suspended for sticking to regulations. He still handles court cases pro bono, with the help of his supportive wife, also a lawyer.

 Alex had no plan of entering politics. He finished law at the University of the Philippines, then attended the Haggai Leadership Institute in Singapore. He was secretary-general of the Ang Kapatiran Political Party, until he resigned because he wanted to focus on promoting a small volume he had written called “12 Little Things every Filipino can Do to Help Our Country.” Things like paying taxes, obeying traffic rules, disposing of garbage properly, and talking about one’s country positively. He has been asked to speak by church and civic groups. To date, 11,000 copies have been printed, and copies are available at National Book Stores.

Alex was surprised to receive a phone call from the Liberal Party standard bearer, Noynoy Aquino, to join the party’s senatorial slate, saying the party needed “young people, fresh blood, with new perspective, who can represent change and new politics.”

 Alex agreed, seeing that in the Senate he can help people fight for change. In his rounds, he noticed that “people sit up and listen when we tell them we are new.” To his surprise, a Pulse Asia survey during the period December 8-10, showed him as #15 of respondents’ choices over 58 candidates.

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