Alfredo Lim (90)

Alfredo “Fred” Siojo Lim (Chinese: 林雯洛; pinyin: Lín Wénluò; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Bûn-lo̍k) was a Filipino politician and police officer who served as a senator from 2004 to 2007. He also served as the Mayor of Manila twice: first from 1992 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2013.

Prior to entering politics, Lim was a policeman for three decades. During the administration of President Corazon Aquino, he was appointed as the Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), serving from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, he was elected Mayor of Manila, serving for two consecutive terms. He then unsuccessfully ran for President in 1998. Two years later, in 2000, he was appointed by President Joseph Estrada as the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In 2001, he ran again for mayor of Manila but lost to then-incumbent Lito Atienza. In the 2004 elections, he ran for senator and won. Three years into his tenure in the Senate, he resigned in order to run for mayor of Manila, which he won and served two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2013. He then lost the 2013 and 2016 mayoral elections to former president Estrada. In 2019, both Lim and Estrada lost the mayoralty elections to Isko Moreno, who served as vice mayor during the two former mayors’ respective terms.

Due to his tough stance against suspected criminals, Lim earned the nickname “Dirty Harry”.

He died of the coronavirus on August 8, 2020.