Tapos ang Buhayin ang Maynila (Atienza reign ends... temporarily)

One of the spectacular stories of this election is the defeat of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza's surrogate, his own son Ali, in the mayoralty race, to no less than Senator Alfredo Lim, the city's Dirty Harry. With Lito completing three full terms and ineligible for reelection, he passed on his Hawaiian shirt to Ali, a taekwondo jin whose only experience in politics is being head of the city's sports program.

Lito must have thought Manilans would mistake Ali (who looks like his younger version) for him if Ali wore the same Hawaiian shirts. Obviously, Ali will just be a seat warmer (like other three-term mayors' wives and children) until Lito becomes eligible for election in three years.

Several 'Ituloy ang Buhayin ang Maynila' billboards and motorcades with Manny Pacquaio later, Ali tasted defeat in his first political foray.

If Lito Atienza only applied the same rule he imposed on son Kim, who has chosen to leave politics and concentrate on being a TV weatherman instead. In various Lito Atienza TV biographies, he is depicted as admonishing Kim to start his political career at the lowest level and work his way up. And so Kim served at the barangay, and then became councilor. In 2004, he tried his luck and ran for congressman but lost bitterly.

In 2007, Lito Atienza seemed to have forgotten this 'work your way up' principle when he realized no one from his family will inherit the mayor's post. So, in a bid to preserve his dynasty (rather than see rival and veteran Vice Mayor Danny Lacuna get the post on a silver platter), Ali was foisted to the political scene. Manilans must have felt insulted and voted for Dirty Harry's return.

Atienza should have known better. He himself had struggled to become mayor of Manila after several unsuccessful attempts since 1987. He tasted defeat from Mel Lopez and had to team up with Lim to become vice-mayor. When Lim decided to run for higher office, that's when he finally had a crack on the top post in the Philippine capital. For sure, he knows it's not that easy.