Guest of Honor and Speaker’s Profile: MMDA Chairman Danilo Delapuz Lim

Brigadier Gen. Danilo Delapuz Lim (Ret) is a graduate of the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point, New York U.S.A having the distinction of being the only Filipino cadet in his class. His trainings include the Scout Ranger Course where he graduated number one in his class and the Infantry Officers Advanced Course in Fort Benning in Georgia, U.S.A. where he was commended for attaining a perfect score in the demanding US Army Physical Fitness Test. He consistently graduated No. 1 in all the career and specialization courses he took. He proved his dedication to his oath and uniform by being wounded twice in combat in Mindanao and being a recipient of various military awards and commendations which include a Gold Cross Medal for gallantry in action and a distinction from the Scout Rangers Association in 2016.

Aside from his Military positions, Chairman Lim also held various government positions like serving as a Military Assistant to the Secretary of National Defense, Chief of Staff of the Undersecretary for Local Government and Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence in the Bureau of Customs from 2011-2013. In his stint at the Bureau of Customs, Chairman Lim was responsible in the seizure of smuggled items in record-breaking numbers and the introduction of major institutional changes that effected stricter personnel policing in his department.

At present, Chairman Lim heads the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the agency in charge of providing the delivery of basic services in Metro Manila’s 13 million residents which includes traffic and transport, flood control and solid waste management, among others. In a short span of time, Chairman Lim is able to institutionalize reforms in the agency aimed at reforming erring MMDA officials and personnel. He carried out the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte to curb out anomalies and corruption within the agency. Likewise, the Chairman has committed to raise the morale of MMDA personnel in order to ignite their passion for service through an improved reward system. Some of the schemes introduced are the granting of rewards to a group of traffic enforcers who can improve the traffic condition as measured by the travel speed of motor vehicles. Free daily breakfasts are also given to lower rank employees as a form of assistance. Other transport policies that yielded positive effects in his early tenure at MMDA are the closure of illegal bus terminals in major thoroughfares, maintenance of sidewalks that are cleared of any form of obstructions and the promotion of the use of technology in traffic management, to name a few.