Alfredo Lim (21 December 1929-8 August 2020) was a Filipino politician who served as Mayor of Manila from 30 June 1992 to 27 March 1998 (succeeding Mel Lopez and preceding Lito Atienza) and from 30 June 2007 to 30 June 2013 (succeeding Atienza and preceding Joseph Estrada).
Biography[]
Alfredo Lim was born in Manila, Luzon, Philippines in 1929 to a family of Chinese ancestry. He became a policeman during the 1950s, becoming a decorated officer. During the 1980s, he helped to defend President Corazon Aquino's government from coup attempts, and he served as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation from 1989 to 1992. He went on to be elected Mayor of Manila in 1992 as the People's Reform Party candidate, promising law and order and an improved image for the city. He was nicknamed "Dirty Harry" for his tough-on-crime approach, and he also founded the City College of Manila. Lim resigned in 1998 in order to run for President as the Liberal Party of the Philippines nominee, but he finished in fifth, behind President Joseph Estrada. Under Estrada, Lim served as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government from 2000 to 2001, leaving office following Estrada's overthrow in the Second EDSA Revolution. He then lost the 2001 mayoral election, but he served as a Senator from 2004 to 2007 with Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and returned to the office of Mayor from 2007 to 2013, only to again be defeated by Estrada a second time. He later went on to join PDP-Laban in 2018, and he died in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.