NEWSFLASH

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MAYOR LIM NOW A TV DRAMA HOST

Quezon City, Oct. 6, 1998 - The most fearless Manila Mayor since Arsenio Lacson is now the star of a brand-new real-life docu-drama on television, KATAPAT: MAYOR FRED LIM.

Mayor Lim's program takes over the Friday prime time (9-10:30 pm) slot vacated by the cancelled 'Calvento Files' and begins this week. The TV hosting is in addition to Mayor Lim's daily DZMM radio program PASADA 630.

For its initial episode, KATAPAT tackles the human drama of the sinking of MV Pearl of the Orient, as narrated by the survivors themselves. Real drama is provided by actual news footage of the search and rescue operations following the disaster.

For its succeeding episodes, KATAPAT has lined up other headline-making stories with a positive angle, such as unusual heroism and success.

Even before the show's first episode airs, political observers are already interpreting Mayor Lim's foray into radio and TV as initial steps towards Malacanang. They point out to the successful contribution of TV exposure to the senatorial bids of Loren Legarda and Rene Cayetano, who won Senate seats despite the loss of their presidential bet Joe de Venecia.

However, that same formula did not work for Rey Langit, who's almost an institution on radio and who, like Legarda and Cayetano, had a high-rating public service TV program shortly before the elections.

Viewers are also betting on the possibility that Mayor Lim, the most eligible Filipino widower, just might make a trip down the aisle and take a future First Lady to the altar. He's been romantically linked to former Miss International runner-up Evangeline Pascual. During the election campaign, one of the "gimmicks" at his provincial sorties was the fact that he and his major endorser former President Cory Aquino are both single. Mayor Lim denies any romantic involvement with either one.