“Peace be with you!”

Manila mayoralty rivals Mayor Alfredo aka “Dirty Harry” Lim and former president Joseph “Erap” Ejercito-Estrada aka “Asiong,”

gave each other this greeting and shook hands as they heard Holy Mass at the Manila North Cemetery to commemorate the eighth death anniversary of Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ), their common friend.

Just two weeks ago, on November 30, the two rivals were exchanging barbed comments.

Now, they were wishing peace upon each other. At the Holy Mass held inside the cemetery, they shook hands in front of Poe’s tomb. However, they did not talk to each other again after their four-word greetings.

During the Holy Mass, Lim and Estrada stood on either side of Poe’s widow, Susan Roces. Later, they joined Roces and her daughter, former chairman Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares of Movie and Television Review Classification Board, in inaugurating FPJ’s statue at the Plaza Ferguson along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

The inaugural rites caused monstrous traffic in the area that took hours to untangle. The late actor ran for president in 2004 against then reelectionist president and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Pampanga province. Lim was in FPJ’s senatorial slate and won but cut his term short by running for mayor in 2007. Estrada supported Poe and Lim in 2004.

Lim and Estrada are running for mayor of Manila in the 2013-midterm elections in what is expected to be a close fight.

The putting up of a statue for FPJ was seen by Estrada’s supporters as Lim’s scheme to earn the support of Poe’s widow and daughter. Llamanzares is running for senator in next year’s polls as guest candidate of both the United Nationalist Alliance organized by Estrada and Vice President Jejomar Binay and the Liberal Party-led coalition.

In a recent roundtable interview with The Manila Times, Lim said that he was confident of winning in the upcoming elections. He added that he does not believe in surveys because his fate will be decided only by the people of Manila.