Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has been declared by the Liberal Party as its official candidate in 2010, chairman ex-Senator Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

In a caucus at the Bayview Hotel, Drilon endorsed Lim’s reelection bid under the banner of the political bloc led by its president, Senator Mar Roxas.

Lim acknowledged the annointment in the presence of party stalwarts including former LP president Florencio “Butch” Abad, secretary-general.

Not a few would remember that the mayor joined the presidential derby in 1998 as LP standard-bearer.

Also yesterday, Lim, in turn, expressed his all-out support and endorsement for the planned presidential quest of Roxas in the coming 2010 presidential polls during a visit to City Hall.

“Roxas is my president. His record is unblemished,” he said.

Roxas, son of the late Gerardo Roxas and grandson of first Philippine President Manuel Roxas after the country’s liberation in 1946, came by to push his “baby project,” the Cheaper Medicine Act.

The other LP faction led by Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza had tried to outflank the Drilon group which later was upheld by the high tribunal.

Atienza, a former three-term mayor of Manila and considered an arch political rival of Lim in the premier city’s political front, is urging the Drilon faction to convene a general assembly or a national executive committee meeting “to settle, once and for all, the real, true and genuine leadership of the party.” Tony Macapagal