Lim making a comeback in Manila?

Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim looms as the administration party’s Manila mayoralty bet in the coming May elections as he girds for a comeback in the city he headed for two terms before running for the presidency in the last elections.

Although stopping short of officially declaring his candidacy, Lim’s 71st birthday bash on the densely populated Asuncion street in Tondo, Manila, had all the elements of a miting de avance with no less than President Estrada present.

"The best mayor Manila ever had," was how President Estrada described his Cabinet official, who was once one of his rivals in the 1998 presidential elections.

Estrada, in his speech, also acknowledged rumors that Lim’s son, Roland, will run for Manila’s District 1 congressional seat.

"This I assure you, the President never ever gave me an illegal order," said Lim in his address to the crowd, referring to the jueteng scandal to which his name has also been dragged into. "This is just politics, don’t believe everything you hear."

The former mayor’s birthday bash held annually on the same street, where Lim’s son holds residence, was marked by distribution of gifts, the playing of a marching band, the proliferation of streamers, a large stage and a Mass at the nearby Sto. Niño Church.

Ironically, it was Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who officiated the Mass for Lim with prayers for a "competent leader for the country" and for Lim and all the Cabinet secretaries.

Lim, however, called for prayers, in his own speech after the Mass for the enlightenment of Church leaders calling for the President’s resignation. Allies once, Cardinal Sin and Lim, are on opposite sides in the jueteng scandal issue.

Later President Estrada, in his speech on stage on Asuncion street, credited Lim for being a loyal Cabinet secretary, from time to time, mentioning the secretary’s name with the title "mayor."

Other Cabinet officials who were present and spoke to the crowd, particularly Ambassador to the US and former Senate president Ernesto Maceda, and Press Secretary Ricardo Puno, also endorsed Lim’s widely rumored comeback. Lim made no effort to dispel the rumors and insinuations of his return to city politics.