Sen. Richard Gordon promised Filipinos in July 2016 after his election that he would give them the best public service they deserve.

“I am not one to shun away from the task at hand. The task is serious. I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. I will not cower. I will pound hard. And toil harder. The Filipino people deserve the best,” was his statement that was also circulated on social media via a meme.

Whether or not the fifth sentence in the quote was a pun on Gordon’s nickname, it was the sentiment of the senator on Monday as he expressed dismay over how passengers at the NAIA terminal were poorly treated by airline and airport personnel over the weekend.

Gordon said the passengers should not have been stressed and inconvenienced had the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) been already reopened and available to accommodate flights that were diverted from NAIA because of a plane that overshot a runway on Friday.

The senator recalled that in December 1995, the same accident happened at NAIA but international flights were diverted to the then newly-opened SBIA avoiding the stranding of passengers. He also assembled, on short notice, hundreds of volunteers who helped unload 1,490 passengers from four 747 jumbo jets.

That was a Dick at his best–pounding hard and toiling harder for public service.

a pun on Gordon’s nickname, it was the sentiment of the senator on Monday as he expressed dismay over how passengers at the NAIA terminal were poorly treated by airline and airport personnel over the weekend.

Gordon said the passengers should not have been stressed and inconvenienced had the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) been already reopened and available to accommodate flights that were diverted from NAIA because of a plane that overshot a runway on Friday.

The senator recalled that in December 1995, the same accident happened at NAIA but international flights were diverted to the then newly-opened SBIA avoiding the stranding of passengers. He also assembled, on short notice, hundreds of volunteers who helped unload 1,490 passengers from four 747 jumbo jets.

That was a Dick at his best–pounding hard and toiling harder for public service.