Lim stays as Scout Rangers chief

Contrary to speculations that he would soon be stripped of his command, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, "godfather" of the defunct Young Officers Union (YOU), will remain the commander of the Army’s elite Scout Rangers Regiment.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said Lim has been performing well as commander of the Scout Rangers Regiment and he sees no ground to order his transfer.

"He (Lim) has provided the Scout Rangers Regiment the leadership and direction, contributing greatly toward the accomplishment of the Army’s mission," Esperon said in a statement.

Should Lim be reassigned, Esperon said it would be for "career development" and that he (Lim) would be elevated to a higher position.

"But his reassignment is not yet in the immediate future," Esperon said.

Before he was named Army chief, Esperon was Lim’s immediate superior when he headed the Army’s Special Operations Command (Socom), which has direct control of the Scout Rangers and the Special Forces.

As a young Army captain, Lim led Scout Rangers in the failed but bloody coup attempt to overthrow the government of then President Corazon Aquino in December 1989.

"I believe in the integrity and loyalty of Brig. Gen. Danny Lim," Esperon said.

A graduate of the US Military Academy (Class 1978), Lim was the founding chairman of YOU, which later signed a peace pact with the government in October 1995.

YOU was recently resurrected as the Young Officers Union of the New Generation (YOUng). Lim has denied involvement with the new group.

Rumors of Lim’s relief surfaced as tension mounted within the military organization due to the sacking and court martial of Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani and Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan after they testified in a Senate investigation into alleged fraud in the 2004 presidential elections.