Olongapo City remembers founding father

The Philippine Star

Olongapo City commemorates today the 39th death anniversary of its founding father, James Leonard Gordon, who was murdered by a paid assassin at City Hall.

Gordon, father of Sen. Richard Gordon and incumbent Olongapo Mayor James Jr., was responsible for the granting of Olongapo’s independence from American military rule in 1959 and eventually became its first elected municipal mayor.

He also lobbied for the conversion of the then municipality into a chartered city, which got presidential approval in 1966, a year before his gruesome death.

The elder Gordon was shot in the head while attending to a woman’s complaint shortly after arriving at City Hall. This was the third attempt on his life.

The hit man was immediately arrested, subsequently convicted and jailed for life. He was later killed in a riot at the Bilibid Prisons. However, the masterminds of the crime have remained at large and unidentified.

Gordon, whose father was an American, chose the citizenship of his Filipino mother to serve the community of his birth.

As mayor of a city which used to host the biggest US naval base in the Far East, Gordon maintained that Filipino-American relations should be based on mutual respect and the interests of both countries.

Gordon is best remembered for his fight against graft and corruption, crime and vices, and illegal logging.

The Gordon family will lead a Mass and floral offering at his grave on Kalaklan Ridge.

A similar activity is also scheduled at the James Gordon monument in Olongapo City’s Marikit Park.