After winning the 1998 presidential elections in May of that year, newly elected President Joseph Estrada issued Administrative Order No. 1, which ordered the removal Gordon as Chairman of the SBMA. Estrada appointed Felicito Payumo, Gordon's critic and congressman of Bataan as new chairman. Gordon refused to step down, stating that his re-appointment from the Ramos administration gave him civil service protection. The removal process was not easy. Hundreds of volunteers barricaded the gates of SBMA and Gordon locked himself inside the SBMA Administrative Office Building 229. After this, he was dubbed a dictator because of the fact that he rebelled against an executive order. The issue sparked the interest local and foreign press known as the .