Cosmo: What triggered you to run for the presidency?

Gordon: People have been expecting me to run since 1992. But I decided I'd go to Subic because Subic was totally destroyed. In 1998, people asked me to run again. I didn't run because I thought that I had not put Subic through first world status. Then in 2004, when I was Secretary of Tourism, I was asked to run by President Arroyo in the Senate, and I thought I might as well go and see what the Senate is like. [I] now [have] 33 years of experience as a Con-Con delegate, as a mayor for 13 years--kita mo naman sa Olongapo, it's a model city. I wanted the kids there to feel proud of their community, the nightclub city. Their fathers worked in the bases, and most bar girls there are not really prostitutes, but they came there out of need, because in their provinces, they are like OFWs--they have to leave, hoping to marry an American man in the process. They lower their values. I can't help that because the bases are there; I can't close the bases. But we took care of the girls with AIDS and we eradicated that.

We went to Subic afterwards, after Mt. Pinatubo destroyed my town. I never left it. We all helped to pull it together. We did save lives. Very few people know this, but we saved around 9,000 Aetas from the volcano. We took them down, not just once, but when they were on the foot of the volcano, we took them out again because they were so close to the volcano. I think that was the right decision, a forced evacuation, because we saved 9,000 lives. We took them from the slopes of the adjoining hills, and we were able to get them out. I took them all to my town, and all that was devastated. I rebuilt the hospitals. We put the ash on the beaches so the beaches would become wider.

I proposed my vision of a free port, and that's how Subic began. That's how Subic came to be. Subic became a model; 8,000 volunteers, initially 27,000 volunteers, who worked at the base without pay. Subic was a humongous success.

I went to the Department of Tourism. We did WOW Philippines, and tourism became a byword in the country. I became a Senator.

So why am I running? It's because [I have] 33 years of experience. Con-con delegate, mayor, senator, DOT, plus 43 years of experience as a humanitarian worker for the Red Cross. I built 15,000 homes, I went to every disaster area in Cabanatuan; there are others, people that we gave homes to. They built the homes, we provided them with the equipment. Now they have the home. Practically every chapter of the Red Cross has ambulances with oxygen and a defibrillator. We have rescue trucks for earthquakes, we have a navy, we have rubber boats, we have the 94 chapters. The Red Cross has become a donor of society. I was also made a governor of the International Red Cross, the first Filipino [to become so].

So why am I running? I have enough done in a lifetime, I think for many lifetimes na siguro. I ran when my Father was assassinated; until now I speak for those who are killed. How can I improve these cases, investigate cases? I stand on ground for those people whose lives are lost in maritime disasters, and I try to fight for them, I try to improve. I tried to make a maritime industry out of my country, and I might empower our country; after all, we are an archipelagic country, we have a history of maritime capability. And then of course, I want people to find their future in the Filipinas. This is what I did in Subic: 200,000 jobs have been created. 100,000 in Subic, 100,000 outside.

Why am I running? There is so much corruption everywhere.

Something's got to happen in this country. We lost our pride, we've lost our history, and we don't even remember it. We've squandered our natural resources. In 1957, the World Bank said we were first in Asia, second only to Japan, and we had the highest educational system in Asia. Everything was set; we could be an exporting nation. We had rich natural resources and forests, lands, and we were number one in education. Today, what are we? That's why I'm running.

With all that experience--and I think I beat everybody in [terms of] experience--I have a track record and the will to do things. I'm not as wealthy as the others, but I'm comfortable, and I'm happy, and I don't have any desire for money. I just want the good thing for everybody; I want the same thing for the country. If I don't do it, who else will?

Noynoy is a nice kid, but heck, 'yun lang ba, nang mamatay ang mother niya, 'yun lang ba? Sabi niya he's not corrupt; I don't know about that, but I'll tell you, when you're a local government official, people will try to give you bribes, try to make you do things. You have to raise the standard; I don't care who gets mad, but you have to raise the standard. Dapat naka-uniporme ang sailor, malinis ang toilet, maayos ang barko. Kapag luma na palitan na 'yan, hindi na pwedeng bumyahe sa laot dahil delikado; 'yung sailor mo kailangan maayos. I do those things and I have been sued, many times. I don't think anyone can say I'm corrupt.

I enjoy uplifting people's lives; I enjoy giving them their dignity. I do that by making them work for it. Enable and ennoble is my motto. So I'm running not for title, I'm running not for position, I'm running so I can change this country, change this attitude. When I became the Mayor of Olongapo, my first words were "What this country needs is not just change of men but a change in men. You just changed the mayor. I'm the new mayor, I can do things but I cannot do all; you have to change yourselves, reinvent yourselves."

And so they did: everybody volunteered, cleaned out the streets, even the drivers wore uniforms. They have to repaint their tricycles and their jeepneys--the whole jeep--certain colors so that there'll be no more colorum, body numbers so there will be accountability, then everyone will put their names on the back. Ganun lahat--vendors on the streets, market vendors, the magtataho, vendors, everybody. And they cleaned up the streets. And they reported crimes.

We wanted a good Olongapo, so we all helped. Nag-volunteer 'yung iba magpalit ng kobre-kama, magtulak ng wheelchair, nagbigay ng wheelchair, nagbigay ng microscope, nagbigay ng air conditioner, nagbigay ng mga gamit sa laboratoryo, nagbigay ng mga gamit sa operating room, and now we have the best hospital in the country run by local government. We even have three brain surgeons there. I never thought we could do that.

So I tell all the people who come in, see if you guys could hire these people--they are volunteers, they worked without pay, they cleaned it up, and they made it up to speed.

I modernized Red Cross, I modernized Olongapo. In 1993, 1994 I have installed GPS in all the police cars and fire trucks in Olongapo so I knew where they were all the time. Now the Red Cross has that. We have an operation center now.

I think I have all the credentials, I think I have leadership, I think I have experience, I think I have integrity, and I have results.

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