MMDA chairman Danilo Lim dies at 65

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo "Danny" Lim has passed away, Malacañang announced on Wednesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Lim, 65, died before 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Lim last week said he contracted COVID-19, but officials have yet to bare the cause of death.

“Yung cause of death, lahat po, ito ay official na ia-announce anytime today. Inaantay pa namin 'yung official announcement ng pamilya,” said MMDA  spokesperson Celine Pialago on Dobol B sa News TV.

Roque said “Lim served the Duterte administration with professionalism, competence and integrity. He would be dearly missed.” 

“May the perpetual light shine upon him, and may his soul, through the mercy of the Almighty, rest in eternal peace.”

Flags at MMDA offices in Metro Manila were lowered to half mast on Wednesday as the agency mourns the passing of Lim, according to a report by Mao dela Cruz on Super Radyo dzBB.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Lim, a retired military officer, to the MMDA in May 2017.

Lim served as deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Customs during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.   

A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Lim participated in the 1989 coup attempt against then-President Corazon Aquino. They surrendered later on and were detained until they were granted amnesty in 1995.

In 2006, Lim was arrested and detained again on charges for plotting to overthrow the administration of then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. A year after that, he and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a former Navy officer, seized Manila Peninsula Hotel for hours in an alleged attempt to inspire a military uprising.

Lim was released from detention after Arroyo's term. He ran for senator in 2010 but was unsuccessful.  —KBK/KG, GMA News