‘Eraptions’ may find match in ‘Limsanity’

If former president and now Manila mayoral aspirant Joseph Estrada has his “Eraption” jokes, the man he wants to unseat may soon capitalize on the social network meme that has come to be known as “Limsanity.”

Facebook photos poking fun at Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim’s supposed one-liners and mannerisms started coming out after the city was lashed by storms in August.

And more Limsanity posts are likely to come out as the Estrada-Lim rivarly heats up this week, when contenders in the 2013 elections begin filing their certificates of candidacy.

The earliest memes showed Lim raising both hands and supposedly saying: “Kalma lang mga bata, wala pa ring pasok bukas (Calm down, kids. There are still no classes tomorrow).”

Another photo had Lim breaking into a mischievous grin and pointing a finger at Estrada, with the caption: “Akala mo mananalo ka? Wala ka namang meme (You think you can beat me when you don’t have a meme)?”

Another had him telling his former ally, Vice Mayor Isko Moreno: “Hoy Isko, magbihis ka nga (Hey Isko, put some clothes on)!” Estrada has picked Moreno as his running mate.

In a recent interview, Lim said he found the meme amusing but claimed that his office had nothing to do with it. “It means that (whoever posted them) wants to send a message using my picture for emphasis.”

He also washed his hands of the “Limsanity” Facebook page which has close to 38,000 “likes” as of this writing.

But the 82-year-old mayor and former city police chief known as “Dirty Harry” has an official Twitter page— @TheMayorLIM—which has over 64,000 followers as of Saturday.

The tweets addressed to Lim have ranged from complaints about Manila’s traffic jams, garbage problem and street crimes, to odd questions on how to court a girl or where to go on a date in the city.