With barely four months before the filing of candidacies for next year’s elections, Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said he will only join the mayoralty race of Manila if city hall “fails to act on its promises.”
“If the government does not change in Manila and ignores what we talk about here, when City Hall does not [act], what will we do? When the time to decide comes, I will ask you: ‘Are you going to be happy with this government?’ When you answer ‘no’, I will run,” Atienza said at the recent Tapatan sa Aristocrat forum in Malate, Manila.
Atienza was a three-term Manila mayor from 1998 to 2007. Barred by law from seeking a fourth consecutive term, he was instead named environment secretary by then-President Gloria Arroyo after his tenure as mayor.
However, the lawmaker would be going up against incumbent mayor and former President Joseph Estrada, who has declared he will run for a third and final term.
Atienza’s youngest son Ali ran for mayor in 2007 but lost to then-senator Alfredo Lim. Lito Atienza was Lim’s vice mayor for three terms as well before 1998.
The elder Atienza reiterated that anything can still happen within the next four months, and that only God knows what road he’ll take in politics.
The Tapatan sa Aristocrat forum where he spoke was dedicated to Manila’s 447th anniversary of its cityhood, where issues prominent in the city such as improper garbage disposal, the Manila Bay Restoration, and the war on drugs were discussed.
“Maynila: Matapos ang 447 Taong Pagkakatatag (Naganap, Nagaganap at Magaganap)” was moderated by Melo M. Acuña. Atienza’s co-speakers were newspaper columnist Wilson Lee Flores, Sister Nenet Daño, RGS; Engineer Elmerito Pineda, dean of the College of Engineering of the Universidad de Manila; and UDM scholar Karen Papilleras. Bianca Grajo