Angel Thoughts
Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
—Desmond Tutu
Alfredo Siojo Lim died at 90, leaving behind legends of his colorful life, from a poor orphaned boy to an exemplary policeman and public servant. His career in the PNP and in public service as mayor and senator has been extolled. He deserves all of the tributes.
I first heard about Fred Lim when my younger brother Benjie Munson, a DZRJ disc jockey, was shot by three drug-crazy men in January, 1972.
They gate-crashed the concert Benjie staged with his friends, the Juan de la Cruz band, at PWU on Taft Avenue. In the middle of the concert one came up to the stage and tried to get the mike. Benjie followed him and politely led him away. The intruder and his two companions left the compound.
When they were packing up, the three troublemakers came back. One pretended to pick a fist fight with Benjie. He obliged and put up his fists, towering at six feet and three inches against the puny interloper. This was when the second companion behind him fired three shots at Benjie. One bullet penetrated his back and his heart. He collapsed but picked himself up, struggling out to hail a cab alone. At PGH they performed emergency surgery but the damage was too much. He died on the operating table.
The killers it turned out were related to military men and the gun used was owned by an uncle of one of the boys. Then they fled to the hills of Rizal.
Enter the NBI director Alfredo S. Lim, then the NBI chief, who was determined to rid the city of crime. Grimly he led the chase, hauling in the three criminals in days later. The military court tried the case. They were found guilty, sentenced to death by firing squad but all escaped, thanks to their connections. Last we heard, two had fled to the US.
Fred Lim remained a family friend. His exploits as Dirty Harry were impressive and even my late mother Paz was his big fan. He really meant it when he told people, like my colleague Jullie Yap Daza whom he respected a lot, “If you need help, a policeman will always help you!”
True enough, no call to him to quiet down istambays or street fights in our neighborhood in Paco was ever ignored! His ram-rod stance, piercing chinito eyes, and quiet, firm demeanor were deterrents in themselves. He did not curse, or perorate. He spoke from his heart and with conviction. He also became superintendent of the PNP Academy in Silang and, during his time, he ruled out violent hazing.
His method of wiping out criminals was swift justice. His exploits were stuff made for action movies. Once, I remember someone suggested to President Cory Aquino to get the help of Dirty Harry in dealing with an undesirable suitor of her daughter Kris Aquino. Immediately the president said, “No, no. Don’t, call Fred!” Lim would have had a solution. Tita Cory disliked the suitor but she didn’t want Lim’s justice on him.
When the coups against President Cory came, Fred Lim was chief of police. He was one of the first responders in the middle of the night, bringing his trusted men to the palace. They stayed until the coup fizzled out. Dirty Harry made a very good impression on President Cory as a principled man. He would defend democracy with his life if called for. So much so that in the elections after FVR’s term, she refused to endorse anyone, not Erap or her friend, Jose de Venecia. To our surprise, she endorsed Fred Lim as her candidate. No one gave him notice as a presidentiable!
But Cory had decided so we all fell behind her to support the ragtag campaign. Lots of volunteers, but no funds. Lim took it in stoically. He had Ninoy Aquino’s sister Lupita Kashahiwara as media adviser on Cory’s advice, which included reluctant vice-presidential candidate Sergio Osmena and Buddy Gomez, Adolf Azcuna, and Gem Carague, whom Cory drafted to join Lim’s senatorial lineup.
On the campaign trail, I had the chance to observe Lim closely. Disciplined to the bones, ever the gentleman, he never spoke ill of his opponents. Our candidate lost, but Cory was happy. She had a clean candidate.
When Lim became senator much later, I had hope he would stay, but his heart was for the city of Manila. He won two elections as mayor, only losing to the actor Estrada. But as mayor he was unforgettable. He bravely branded drug dens and homes of drug lords with the a big red “X” on their doors or gates. He closed down the honky-tonks in Malate. He vowed to make the city “clean and respectable.” No one protested human rights violations!
When asked what the secret was for his long, happy life at the Rotary Club of Manila, for which he had a soft spot, Lim answered simply, “My secret in longevity is not to harbor any ill feelings toward any of my fellowmen!”
Lim was a true friend to the members of our media group, Bulung Pulungan. He would come when invited and, sometimes, ask us to join him for lunch at one of his favorite Chinese restaurants in Escolta or Binondo. One Christmas in Bulong, he brought along his handsome vice mayor, Francisco Domagoso. “The next mayor of Manila!” he said, introducing the shy “Isko,” a prophecy come true.
“Yorme” shed tears when he announced Lim’s passing and ordered the flag at City Hall at half-mast the whole month of August and the lights of the seat of power out too.
Sleep well, Mayor Fred Lim. You deserve heavenly rest!