For so long the "Hello, Garci" issue had brought us all to a no-win situation, and to revive it now could push us deeper into political and social quagmire.

The opposition had already made unrestrained and often licentious field day of recriminations – and for what? What more do they want to satisfy their mean-mindedness, all in the name of freedom – or is it conceit?

Of course, Richard Gordon’s apprehension in making the warning was the legal implications of a Senate investigation of an alleged illegal taped conversation. As every body knows, it is about the private conversation over the telephone between President Gloria Arroyo and then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on the "need for the President to have one million votes to win in the 2004 presidential elections, particularly in the Mindanao area, over movie actor Fernando Poe Jr."

The Senate has already scheduled the hearing as a "committee of the whole" sometime next week, following the privilege speech of Senator Panfilo Lacson calling for a Senate investigation.

But Gordon remains tough cautioning his colleagues that "We are treading on dangerous waters here." The majesty of the law, he said, must prevail, and reminded the senators that "We must not be seen as not knowing the law."

Dick Gordon – who has often been mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2010 presidential elections against fellow Senators Mar Roxas, Manny Villar, or possibly Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte – was referring to Republic Act 4200 (The AntiWire Tapping Law) that provides, "Any communication or spoken word, or the existence, contents, substance, purport, effort, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, or any information therein contained obtained or secured by any person in violation of the preceding sections of this Act shall not be admissible in evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative, or administrative hearing or investigation."

Already, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile has made manifestations he would not attend any committee hearing on the Garcillano tape issue to avoid being charged with violation of the Anti-Wire Tapping Law.

Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Miriam Defensor Santiago have also questioned the credibility of the prime witness whom Senator Lacson said he would present at the hearing.

Malacañang’s position on the reopening of the Garci case is understandably conjectural.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has welcomed the reopening of the inquiry but sets the condition according to the High Tribunal’s decision that upholds the President’s executive privilege on the attendance of department heads during the "question hour" called by Congress. He said other more pressing problems such as the ongoing war in Mindanao could be reason enough to disallow the attendance of certain high officials in the Senate investigation.

President Arroyo was more direct: She slammed what she called the "titans of hate" and their "politics of destruction" in comments about the Senate plan to resume the Hello Garci investigation.

They may have all the reasons to reject moves to revive the Garcillano fiasco on legal grounds as cited by Senator Gordon and the rest, but more than that, on the other hand, the opposition in the Senate should consider its dire consequences to the nation if they insist on their planned reinvestigation.

The fact is that the resurgence of the Garci scandal as the immediate concern of the opposition has dismayed a lot of people who thought it was a closed issue.

Now, what they want is to convert it into a vicious instrument of another "war."