Gordon files candidacy for Senate re-election

With the fervor to continue to transform the Philippines' depressing state due to the COVID-19 pandemic to a faster and stronger nation, Senator Richard J. Gordon today filed his candidacy through his lawyer to seek re-election in the Senate.

He was not present to tend to his immunocompromised spouse, Katherine, and was represented by Atty. Inky Reyes during the official filing of his Certificate of Candidacy for Senator at Hotel Sofitel Manila this afternoon.

Gordon, 76, is seeking to have a new and fresh mandate for another six-year term, which will stretch his clean and efficient brand of public service that had its genesis as the youngest delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Commission.

"It has been an honor serving the people over the last five years, but there is so much more to be accomplished. I am seeking re-election because there is still a lot of work to do for this great country," he said.

"Ito ang nais ko: maging instrumento para sana magkaisa. Kahit anong kulay ka, kaliwa ka man o kanan, sa harap ka man o sa likod — magkakasama tayo. Walang maiiwan," he added.

As an effective lawmaker in the 17th and 18th Congress, Gordon has authored and co-authored a total of 48 laws, 116 resolutions, and 146 bills.

Land-based and sea-based Overseas Filipino Workers are now eligible for pension through the Social Security Act of 2018, judicial cases have been sped up due to the Judges-at-Large Act, and small-time offenders given a new lease on life through the Community Service Act of 2019.

Driver's licenses' validity was extended to five years, passports to a decade, and small farmers got free irrigation services, all thanks to laws authored by Gordon.

In addition to his lawmaking duties, Gordon has also been serving as chairman of the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, leading to dramatic exposés and punishment for those who have erred in government. He also chairs the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and on government corporations and public enterprises.

Currently, Gordon is on top of the Senate's investigation of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, an upstart company accused of entering shady deals with government, providing substandard personal protective equipment at an overprice.

Gordon merely shrugged off the distractions created by the executive department, as the committee is nearing completion of a preliminary report stemming from the weeks-long inquiry that has captivated the country.

It may be recalled that Gordon led the Senate investigation that led to Sandiganbayan convicting two of the highest-positioned Bureau of Immigration commissioners, and a retired police colonel involved in accepting PhP50 million bribes in exchange for the release of 1,316 undocumented Chinese nationals in November 2016.

He also led the Senate investigation into PhP6.4-billion worth of drug importations through the Port of Manila, which has led to the expulsion of numerous crooks at the Bureau of Customs.

Another anomaly discovered was the issuance of the irrevocable Good Conduct Time Allowance release to prisoners in exchange for bribes to several officials of the Bureau of Corrections.

In his first term as Senator, the US$700 million NBN-ZTE deal was cancelled altogether after a blue ribbon inquiry discovered that there was an overprice, and an apparent attempt of several high-ranking government officials to profit from the deal.

Gordon's recommendations also led to the PhP1.16 million return of Sanofi for the care of children who may have experience adverse side effects from the Dengvaxia jab.

Aside from being a legislator, Gordon has continued to respond to the primary concern of the Filipino families in staying healthy by serving as volunteer chairman and chief executive officer of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), a position he has held since 2004.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, Gordon rallied the PRC to augment the country's response, acquiring testing kits and ambulances during the first month of the pandemic.

The PRC has continued to serve as the country's largest testing facility, which has completed millions of swab tests in molecular laboratories scattered across the nation.

"Hindi tayo mapapagod upang pagsilbihan ang ating mahal na taumbayan. Lalaban at babangon tayong muli," mentioned Gordon.