MMDA chief Danny Lim dies

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 6) — Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo "Danny" Lim passed away on Wednesday, over a week after contracting COVID-19. The MMDA said Lim, 65, died of cardiac arrest.

The head of MMDA, one of the government agencies working in the frontlines amid the pandemic, tested positive for the coronavirus on December 29. He said his symptoms were mild.

Malacañang extended its deep condolences to Lim's loved ones and colleagues at the MMDA.

"MMDA Chair Lim served the Duterte Administration with professionalism, competence and integrity. He would be dearly missed," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Lim was a retired military brigadier general who led the failed coup d'etat against former President Corazon Aquino in 1989. He was detained for two years until he was granted amnesty by Aquino's successor, Fidel V. Ramos.

He was also accused in 2006 of plotting the ouster of ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He, along other Magdalo soldiers including Antonio Trillanes IV — then a Navy lieutenant who was later elected senator — were involved in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. This was the infamous incident where rebel troops stormed out of a court hearing and holed up in The Peninsula Manila hotel to call for Arroyo's resignation. Lim was detained from 2006 to 2010 on charges of rebellion and attempted coup d'etat.

Before his appointment to the MMDA in 2017, he was named by former President Benigno Aquino III as Bureau of Customs Deputy Commissioner. He resigned in July 2013 due to alleged corruption in the bureau.

Lim lost when he ran for a Senate seat in 2010.