Former Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon issued a pointed warning that the Senate’s handling of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will be closely watched—and that if the chamber is seen as protecting political allies rather than serving accountability, the public may rise up as it has done twice before in Philippine history.
“Pagpasok ng impeachment, bago mo bantayan ‘yan, dahil diyan niyo makikita kung sino ang kumakiling at may tinutulungan. Nangyari na ‘yan doon kay Estrada nung ayaw buksan ang envelope, anong nangyari? Nag-aklas ang tao,” Gordon said in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on May 23.
Gordon cited two historical precedents to underscore his warning: the Estrada impeachment in 2000, when senators who voted to suppress the opening of a key evidence envelope sparked a public uprising that eventually drove Estrada from power; and the 1986 snap election, when computer operators who walked out after witnessing fraud ignited the chain of events that led to People Power and the fall of the Marcos dictatorship.
He said both incidents demonstrate that when the public loses confidence in the institutions tasked with delivering accountability, it finds other ways to express that loss of confidence.
The former senator said the impeachment trial is not just a legal proceeding but a political and moral test for the Senate — one that will determine whether the chamber can restore the credibility it has lost following the May 13 shooting incident, dela Rosa’s escape, and the leadership shakeup.
“Nangyari na ‘yan doon dati sa 1986, nung nag-walkout ‘yung mga nagbibilang sa computer at nagulat ang tao, kaya nagkagulo ‘di ba? Kaya nga importante ‘yung galaw ng tao. Importante rin ‘yung galaw ng mga responsible members of the government,” he said.
Gordon said the impeachment trial will be the clearest test yet of whether individual senators who he says have lost their moral authority can rise above political interests when it matters most.
He said the public—whose organic anger at the Senate has been building for weeks—will be watching every vote, every procedural decision, and every signal of whose side the Senate is really on.
The former senator said the absence of closure in Philippine political life is the root cause of recurring impunity, and that the impeachment trial represents one of the few opportunities for the system to demonstrate that wrongdoers can be held to account.
“Dapat merong closure. And if we do not have any closure, uulit at uulit ‘yan,” he said, adding that without accountability, the cycle of scandal, outrage, and impunity will simply repeat itself indefinitely.
Gordon compared the Philippines unfavorably to Vietnam, where a health minister was immediately removed when corruption was discovered in government procurement—contrasting this with the Philippines, where ministers escape accountability even when presidents publicly admit to knowing about their wrongdoing.
“Ang Vietnam, nakita niyo sa Vietnam nung inimbestigahan nila katulad ng Pharmally, may nagloloko doon sa kanilang testing, tanggal ‘yung kanilang Ministro ng Health kaagad! Dito wala, nakakalusot ‘yung mga ministro,” he said.
The former senator said the warning is not a call for violence or instability but a realistic assessment of what happens when democratic institutions fail to deliver accountability.
He said the public has every right to demand closure—and that if the Senate fails to provide it through the impeachment process, the streets may once again become the venue for that demand.
Gordon closed by saying he has not given up on the Philippines despite his frustration, but that the country must break the cycle of impunity if it is to move forward. “We should never give up,” he said—adding that the impeachment trial is one of the most consequential tests the Senate has faced in a generation.
