Dan dares Joe to open debate

Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim turned up the heat on the political pot when he hurled a challenge to former Mayor Jose Torralba for an open debate on issues concerning their respective administrations. “Why don't you come out in the open in a debate for all the people to see?” Lim issued the challenge yesterday. The incumbent mayor appeared to have been fed up with intrigues about issues whispered against his administration and even his family. “This is the proper forum so let us do it and let the people decide,” Lim said in justifying his call for an open debate. Lim said he was tired of hearing the persistent black propaganda stuff that are being churned every time the election campaign is approaching. “These are the same issues that tend to picture me in a bad light,” he added.

The mayor said that worse, it is not only him who is the object of the black propaganda and intrigues but even his family including his parents. Lim said his family has suffered so much because of the intrigues when they should be left alone because they are not an issue in the election. “Why, was there an instance when my father maltreated anybody during my incumbency? Did my mother's business benefit during my term?” an obviously peeved Lim asked. Lim said the debate will be an opportunity to compare the strides made by Tagbilaran during his two-year incumbency against Torralba's accomplishment during his 14 years as mayor.

The mayor claimed that he has always been the object of black propaganda, which means he is not the one responsible for them. “Why will I attack myself?” he asked. Lim did not directly attribute the source of the alleged black propaganda but noted that it was obviously related to partisan politics. “The black propaganda only comes out when there is an election, and it is always against me,” Lim added. He also noted that in the 2004 election which was the first time that Torralba and former Vice Mayor Jorge Cabalit went up against each other, Cabalit was also the object of a vicious personal attack. “Now that I am mayor, I won't allow anything like that to happen,” Lim warned. Lim and Torralba are bitter political rivals who have clashed for mayor three times in the past. Torralba won all three but Lim placed two of them under protest. The Supreme Court upheld Lim's protest in the 1998 election but it was too late because the verdict came just before the 2001 polls.

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