Mayoral candidate and former environment secretary Lito Atienza Sunday challenged Mayor Alfredo Lim to bring to court his allegations that he (Atienza) sold parcels of land owned by the local government than brandishing it in front of the media.

“I dare them to sue me so people would know that the issues they’re talking about are all lies. Now if they refuse to file charges in court, that means they themselves know that there’s no truth to their allegations. It’s as simple as that,” Atienza said.

The former environment secretary said Lim should stop his alleged propaganda of lies and nonsense issues, including accusations that he sold city government properties.

He clarified that Lim had also used the same issue against him in 2007. He claimed that if the issue were true and they had evidence against him, they should have sued him back then.

He advised Lim to refrain from talking, claiming he’s the one who allegedly engages in corruption and the one who has much explaining to do to Manilans including the alleged anomalous sale of Century Park Hotel.

“It was his own lawyer, Rey Bagatsing, who filed graft charges against him at the Office of the Ombudsman,” Atienza said. “A lot of cases have been slapped against him and his city officials. They are the ones who have been sued so they should be explaining in court the string of alleged corruption cases filed against them.”

Atienza said he believes that Manilans are intelligent enough to determine who is telling the truth and who is telling lies. He said he is confident that the residents will not believe fabricated stories or issues concocted against him.