Arroyo critics win key races

Manila: President Gloria Arroyo has a major headache these days, the victory after the mid-term polls of two strong critics: Jejomar Binay, as mayor of Makati City, and Senator Alfredo Lim, as mayor of Manila, two major cities in Metro Manila.

"The votes I got are votes against the president. The votes received by the opposition candidates in Makati are votes against the administration," said diminutive Binay, called "Rambotito" by friends for his penchant to join protest rallies.

He got his nickname following his stint as a negotiator during failed coup plots that were waged by right wing rebel soldiers against former President Corazon Aquino from 1987 to 1989.

He said he won because of his enemy, Arroyo, whom he accused of masterminding judicial efforts to suspend him for alleged graft and corrupt practices.

It was Arroyo's fault too that she fielded a weak and token opponent, Senator Lito Lapid, against Binay.

Meanwhile, critic said that Binay has become a traditional politician, like Marcos, for having built a political dynasty.

He and his wife Elinita alternated as elected mayors of Makati City, making it as their political turf. In the May 14 mid-term polls, his daughter Marlen won as a congressman and his son Jejomar Junior as town councilor.

Binay was a human rights lawyer who fought former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and rose as one of the idealist politicians after the ouster of the Philippine strongman by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986.

Senator Lim, known as "Dirty Harry", won over Ali Atienza, the 29-year-old son of Arroyo's close and formidable ally, incumbent Mayor Lito Atienza.

"They better pack up their bags because I will run after them," said Lim in reference to criminals, his pet peeve.

Lim, still strong at 78, has been called Lee Kuan Yu, for his no nonsense style of governance and for his resemblance to the former Prime Minister of Singapore.

Critics gave Lim the unsavoury nickname after blaming him for the spate of political killings of drug addicts in the past, when he was mayor of Manila from 1992 to 1998.

At the time, the conservative Lim was silently blamed for the killing of addicts who carried placards on their neck, saying, "I am an addict."

He was fond of going to brothels only to close them down, and to homes in depressed areas, only to identify them as drug dens.