Liberal Party woos back Lim

MANILA, Philippines - Dethroned Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) president Alfredo Lim may find himself joining the party that had him as standard bearer in the 1998 presidential elections. This was after Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II disclosed that he had invited Lim to join Liberal Party (LP) and that preliminary talks are “ongoing.” “We have high regard of Lim and we respect him. We welcome him (if he intends to join the party),” Roxas, the LP president, said Thursday. Lim formally resigned from PMP Wednesday after he was booted out of the presidency. Pardoned former President Joseph Estrada said he decided to assume the leadership of the PMP since Lim was “too busy" with his functions as mayor of Manila. “I have taken over as president of the PMP because Mayor Lim was too busy. Anyway, I am not doing anything. The party removed him (Lim)," Estrada said. Estrada also admitted that Lim’s participation in Edsa Dos, which catapulted President Arroyo to power, and his recent manhandling of a Manila councilor over a row involving a slaughterhouse also contributed to the party’s decision. In his resignation letter dated August 20, 2008, Lim promised Estrada that he will remain with the opposition. Lim served as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) during the short-lived Estrada administration. - GMANews.TV