Palace ready to work with Erap

MANILA, Philippines - The city government of Manila can very well work hand-in-hand with Malacañang even if President Aquino’s ally, Alfredo Lim, lost to Mayor-elect Joseph Estrada, an official said yesterday.

 â€œI just see no reason why Manila City Hall and Malacañang could not work together,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, noting that Aquino and deposed president Estrada have been “good friends” from the start.

“Their families have remained good friends in spite of being affiliated with different political parties,” he said, citing politics as the only reason why the Chief Executive endorsed Lim’s candidacy.

Unlike in local campaign sorties wherein Aquino berated local chief executives not allied with the administration coalition, the 53-year-old bachelor president spared Estrada – a convicted plunderer – from criticism.

Lacierda said Aquino and Estrada have “always been in good terms” on a “personal level.”

Lim is allied with the Liberal Party while Estrada ran under the United Nationalist Alliance.

In 2010, Estrada joined the presidential race, reportedly to reduce the votes of then presidential candidate Manny Villar, who turned out to be a far third after Congress finished its canvass of all the election returns.

Estrada, who was even communicating with Aquino during the 2010 campaign, came in a far second.

Aquino obtained 40.4 percentage points of the 75-percent voter turnout among 52 million Filipino voters in 2010.