The Rotary Club of Manila held a Polo Club Mayoral Debate last April 22, 2010, participated by mayoralty candidates Lim and Atienza. Various social issues were tackled by the competing candidates during the debate. When the drug problem of Manila was tackled, Lim outlined his strong campaign to prevent the rampant drug trade and use in the city; stating that he incessantly ceased the existence of drugs in Manila during his reign as the city’s Mayor. However, Lim’s opponent, Lito Atienza doubted his authenticity due to the fact that Lim’s son was arrested for drug pushing.
It could be recalled that the son of Lim, Manuel Lim was apprehended in 2008 for selling illicit drugs, a nonbailable offense that also carries life imprisonment. Lim, current Manila mayor, did admit that his son was caught by the PDEA, but claimed that he
did not lift a finger to help his son. As Lim was placed in the hot seat, he strained the topic by accusing the son of Atienza, Ali Atienza, a national athlete and a gold medalist of the taekwondo Asian games, of being a drug addict himself. Ali Atienza who was in the audience cried foul and called Lim a liar, saying that how can a national athlete, who competes in international games with strict drug testing procedures, be a drug addict?
Lim, embarrassed with his allegations, pointed the blame to former vice mayor Lacuna, claiming that Lacuna was the one who said the gossip. Ali in defense of himself outlined to Lim his clean track record.Lim spoke no more about his allegations against Atienza, while the moderators of the debate take over to calm down both parties. Lito Atienza remained calm despite the events and managed to continue the debate.
The debate ended in a detached manner, with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim trying to redeem himself from the embarrassing accusation he dropped against Ali Atienza. Unfortunately, Lim must have forgotten that the audience was professional Rotarians. Lim usually gets away with his mediocre style of campaigning when he is facing customary crowd of tricycle drivers, vendors and the likes, but he must consider that he was facing professionals. It is just disheartening to see how this form of unintelligent debate can take place. As professionals, people were expecting a more academic and intellectual discussions from the candidates.
Ali Atienza will not easily let go of Lim’s allegations, stating that he would be filing a libel case against the mayor. The son of Lito Atienza said that he was deeply hurt about the allegations dropped by Lim. He also said that he worked hard to be on the top of his game, and it was really foul for a mayor to come into a ridiculous accusation against a former
athlete, who before competing, needs to comply with strict drug testing procedures. He also added that he will push the charges even after the election.
With election 2010 almost near, it has been a normal practice for competing candidates to speak ill against each other. These ill comments is one way for the candidates to pull down their opponents. However, it should be realized that as public leaders, this practice clearly sends out the message to the voters that what candidates are capable of doing just to be in the position. The people wants to have a leader who knows how to walk the talk and not just to talk and talk.
The son of mayoralty candidate Lito Atienza is planning to press charges against his father’s opponent Alfredo Lim after the current Manila mayor accused him of being a drug addict. The incident took place during the Mayoralty Debate last April 22, 2010 at the Manila Polo Club. Lim dropped the allegations when the topic of drug abuse was tackled. The young Atienza insisted that he would continue the charges even after election 2010 has ended.
-Joel Dumayog
