Remembering James L.T. Gordon

Under the heat of a scorching sun, along Rivera  Pier, Subic Bay Freeport  in Olongapo  City,  Sen. Richard  “Dick” Gordon stood, extolling the virtues of his father, the late James Leonard T. Gordon, on his 100^th birthday on January 17, 16 days ago.  An hour earlier, he led members of his family in laying a wreath at the foot of a marble statue of their patriarch. Days earlier, Malacanang had declared January 17 as a local holiday in recognition of James Gordon’s significant role in the history of the city.

The senator would have made his father proud. As the youngest  member of the Constitutional Convention of 1971, Olongapo city mayor,  head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Secretary of Tourism,   a member of the Philippine Senate, and chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, he has made a name for himself for his driven leadership and a model  for honesty and integrity.  Television viewers  see how, as chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, he is  fearless and fierce as he interrogates  persons involved in alleged anomalies. As is well known, whatever Dick wants, he works for it, and gets it.

On January 17, Dick  spoke of his father as having shaped his character and vision to serve his country and constituents and – Olongapenos – well.  And historical records show how right Dick was in praising his father.

One of the first things Dick would say in his speeches is  that his father, an American citizen, chose to stay  in the Philippines as a Filipino citizen, raised his children as Filipino citizens, and brought them up according to Filipino values.

James “Jimmy”  Leonard T. Gordon was the son of John Jacob Gordon, a US soldier who came with the troops of Commodore George Dewey that defeated the Spanish Armada in the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay. John  married Veronica Tagle,  a daughter of Col. Jose Tagle who led the first major victory of Filipino forces against Spain in the Battle of Imus in Cavite. In recognition of his leadership, Emilio  Aguinaldo appointed Tagle municipal mayor of Imus.

The Gordon archive  relates   James’ distinguished ancestry as giving  James “the strong character that he, in turn, left to his progeny and to the people of Olongapo as lasting legacy. His private life and public career all bore the earmarks of decisiveness, of willingness to fight corruption against seemingly insurmountable odds.”

Following Filipino tradition,  James was family-oriented, keeping in close touch with his children, treating them firmly, but fairly.  He and his wife  Amelia, who after his death  become Olongapo mayor, raised their children in an atmosphere of love and caring. Richard “Dick” is the third of their six children named Veronica, Barbara, Cecille, James “Bong” Jr., who also served as  Olongapo city mayor two times,  and Imelda.

James’ affinity for the poor saw him and his friends  put up the Boys Town-Girls Home, an institution that takes  care of orphans and abandoned children. The project,  continued by his widow, Amelia, exists up to now. James also worked on community projects to beautify  the city, was one of founders of the Olongapo Rotary Club and the Olongapo Knights of Columbus which selected him the second Grand Knight. He also organized the Olongapo Businessmen’s Association, which played a significant part in community life.

During James Gordon’s time, Olongapo was in a strange situation. The rest of the Philippines had been declared independent of the US on July 4, 1946. But Olongapo remained under US government jurisdiction as it was  declared a US naval reservation after the US and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris. Thus it was administered by a US Navy officer. Instead  of having a Filipino mayor, Olongapo was governed by an American  military official. The atmosphere was restrictive, with the residents not able to move about freely.

Jimmy Gordon, who had been appointed deputy governor of Zambales,  could not stomach the military regulations and  led the fight to gain the freedom of  Olongapenos.  Talks between the Philippine government and an American panel led to the turnover of Olongapo to the Philippine government on Dec. 7, 1959.

After  the turnover, politics reared its ugly head. Politicans moved in, placing their own men in sensitive positions in the new municipality because, writes  the Gordon biographer, they worked to have officials appointed instead of elected.  The town became marginalized, the government hospital was reduced, its equipment carted off to Zambales, illegal logging and cigarette smuggling were rampant. Land problems proliferated, heavy equipment like bulldozers which had been acquired from the US Navy were lost. Politics  at its devious worst, was the order of the day.

James could not stomach the deterioration of his town. He resigned from the vice-governorship.  When the first election was held on Dec. 30, 1963,  four years after the turnover, friends prodded him to run for mayor, and he did, though reluctantly, and won.

He had fought American rule for military excesses, now he was fighting corrupt politicians. The Gordon biographer  writes that James won a case he filed against respondents to return the electrical system to the Olongapo government. He exposed the anomalies that “bedeviled  the new municipal government. Understandably, his crusade earned for him enemies who tried all manners of harassment, including threats of suspension, hand grenade attacks and planned ambushes.”

To free the town from the provincial government, James lobbied in Congress for the passage of a bill to convert the municipality into a city. Amidst strong opposition from the provincial government, RA 4645, the Charter of the City of Olongapo, was signed on June 1, 1966. The city was inaugurated in September of the same year.

James survived several  grenade attempts, but on Feb. 20, 1967, while talking with a constituent on the first floor of City Hall, he was gunned down by an escaped inmate of the National Penitentiary. He was immediately brought to the USS Repose, a US Navy hospital ship, but he could not be saved because  of massive head injuries. The mastermind of the murder was never known. The funeral cortege was the longest the city ever saw.

At Subic Bay 16 days ago, Dick told a huge crowd, that his father was a quiet person. He was told to work hard  to become a leader, not because he was Mayor Gordon’s son, but because he deserved it.  He quit for one year  as a student at the UP College of Law when he ran for the 1971 Constitutional Convention which he won.  His oratorical, unending deliveries must have helped his candidacy, as  they did when he ran for senator.

His parents were good in business. “We were rich, but when I asked them for things I wanted, my father did not give them to me.”  I had to earn it, Dick said. He could not even ride in his father’s car when he was city mayor. He did not want him to join a barkada. Once while playing pinball, he saw his father looking at him, and not saying anything. After that, Dick never played pinball again. He flunked a subject at Ateneo, but his father did not say anything. Silence speaks louder than words.

In the early morning of  Feb. 20, 1967, Mayor Gordon woke up Dick, so he would not be late for  work at Procter & Gamble.   Dick and his brother Bong kissed their father goodbye. As their  father’s  Mercedes Benz  started to drive away (this time the boys were allowed to ride their dad’s prized vehicle), Dick said, “Bong, let’s go back, let’s kiss Papa goodbye again.”  They did. That day, their father was killed.

Dick and Bong and Barbara (the other children are abroad) will be in Subic again on Feb. 20, to commemorate their father’s death anniversary.

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