Lim says he’s running for mayor in Manila

Resigned Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim said he will not accept any position in the Arroyo administration because he intends to vie for the mayoralty post in Manila.

"I’m no longer interested (to stay in the department). In the first place I’m running for mayor of Manila," Lim told reporters.

The former Manila mayor will compete with incumbent Manila Mayor Lito Atienza for the mayoralty in the country’s capital.

At the same time, Lim urged all officials and employees of the DILG and its attached agencies to extend all-out support to the Arroyo administration. Agencies under the DILG are the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and National Police Commission.

Lim asked DILG personnel to cooperate with newly-appointed DILG Secretary Joey Lina in the delivery of basic services to the people, as he thanked all DILG personnel for the cooperation they extended him during his one-year and 11-day stay at the department.

President Arroyo tapped Lina, who was Laguna governor and a former senator, to replace Lim, who resigned along with 10 other members of the Estrada Cabinet during the People Power EDSA II, heeding the clamor of thousands of Filipinos to leave the administration.

Lina failed to show up at the DILG main office Monday because he was in Malacañang to get instructions from President Arroyo.

Lim expressed his belief that former President Joseph Estrada remains innocent unless proven guilty by the Senate impeachment court. He noted the charges in the four articles of impeachment filed by the members of the House of Representative against Estrada were merely accusations up to this time.

"All of it remains accusation and he (Estrada) was not given the chance to answer the charges against him," Lim told DILG officials and employees during the flag-raising ceremony at the DILG main office in Quezon City Monday.

Lim also said the ousted President never ordered him to do any illegal act, like going easy on jueteng operations, as alleged by some detractors of Estrada, who left Malacañang last Saturday.

Meanwhile, DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Narciso Santiago Jr., husband of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, submitted his resignation to President Arroyo Monday.

But sources said Santiago was bitter because he was not tapped by Lim to take over his post. Lim tapped DILG Undersecretary for Administration Anselmo Avenido to be the deparment’s acting secretary until Lina formally took over, "Santiago was expecting to head the DILG even for the meantime, but to his disappointment, Lim instead tapped Avenido," the source added. But some observers claimed Santiago should have not expected the post because his senator-wife had been very vocal in her support for the defunct administration.