In 1992 , Alfredo Lim was elected mayor , the first Chinese-Filipino to hold the office . He was known for his anti-crime crusades . Lim was succeeded by Lito Atienza , who served as his vice mayor . Atienza was known for his campaign ( and city slogan ) " '' Buhayin ang Maynila '' " ( '' Revive Manila '' ) , which saw the establishment of several parks and the repair and rehabilitation of the city 's deteriorating facilities . He was the city 's mayor for 3 terms ( 9 years ) before being termed out of office . Lim once again ran for mayor and defeated Atienza 's son Ali in the 2007 city election and immediately reversed all of Atienza 's projects claiming Atienza 's projects made little contribution to the improvements of the city . The relationship of both parties turned bitter , with the two pitting again during the 2010 city elections in which Lim won against Atienza . Lim was sued by councilor Dennis Alcoreza on 2008 over human rights , charged with graft over the rehabilitation of public schools , and was heavily criticized for his haphazard resolution of the Rizal Park hostage taking incident , one of the deadliest hostage crisis in the Philippines . Later on , Vice Mayor Isko Moreno and 28 city councilors filed another case against Lim in 2012 , stating that Lim 's statement in a meeting were " life-threatening " to them
Rizal Park hostage taking incident
Manila hostage crisis
Manila