Danny Lim: The West Pointer who rebelled against a system, then embraced it
Jan 6, 2021 12:47 PM PHT
This generation knows the late Danny Lim only as Metro Manila’s traffic chief, one of the retired generals appointed to a civilian post by President Rodrigo Duterte. He was much more than that.
From a family of bright kids in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Lim had always been ahead of the pack – whether in school or in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which he joined in 1979 after finishing at the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point. He spent his plebe year at the Philippine Military Academy, belonging to Class 1978, the power class under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who herself was their “adopted classmate.”
Published January 6, 2021, 1:35 PM
The Department of National Defense (DND) is mourning the death of
Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Lim died at around 8 a.m., according to Palace spokesman Harry Roque.
His death came just eight days after he announced on December 29, 2020 that he contracted COVID-19.
“With the passing of General Lim, the country lost an esteemed leader, who valued public service above all else. His vision, which he carried through from his beginnings as a young officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to his later years as a civilian public servant, was to uphold good governance and lead by example,” said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement.
The late Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Danilo Lim was a man of principle and a true gentleman, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in paying tribute to the public servant.