Assistant Foreign Secretary J. Eduardo Malaya, also the DFA spokesperson, Sunday said Cimatu had “completed his mission in Afghanistan and is on his way back home.”

The DFA had earlier asked the former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff to look into the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Egypt.

“The Philippine Embassy (in Cairo), led by Charge d’Affaires Ed Maglaya, is doing a fine job in fully taking care of our nationals there. We have sufficient people on the ground,” Malaya told the Inquirer.

Last week, the DFA also deployed Charge d’Affaires Ezzedin Tago, acting head of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, to assist the mission in Cairo.

“The assessment on the adequacy of existing personnel complement was made days ago,” Malaya said.

Funds accounted for

Without referring to Cimatu, who was accused by some overseas Filipino workers’ groups of misusing funds intended for the repatriation of OFWs in Iraq and Lebanon, Malaya said “DFA funds used in few (OFW) repatriations and evacuations in the past have been liquidated and accounted for.”

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, who earlier directed Cimatu to proceed to the Egyptian capital from Kabul, has yet to comment on the issue.

Apparently taking up the cudgels for Cimatu, a senior diplomat who asked not to be named said, “It’s unfair to say that a person committed a wrongdoing in a present capacity on the basis of allegations that he committed a wrongdoing in a past capacity.”

Immediate replacement

Militant and OFW groups have asked President Benigno Aquino III to show political will by ordering the “immediate replacement” of Cimatu as special envoy for OFW concerns.

“Anything less would not be consistent with the Aquino administration’s crusade for a daang matuwid (straight path),” said Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Reyes said the replacement of Cimatu was in order after he was implicated in the AFP’s “pabaon” (send-off money) system for top military officials by former Lt. Col. George Rabusa, who served as military budget officer from 2000 to 2002.

Rabusa earlier named Cimatu and two other former AFP chiefs of staff—Angelo Reyes and Diomedio Villanueva—who received send-off money from the military.

Cimatu allegedly got P80 million and Reyes, P50 million, while Villanueva was allotted P164 million, according to Rabusa.

In addition, Cimatu and Villanueva each got P10 million in start-up fund and P5 million in monthly take as part of the standard practice, he said.

Serving as AFP chief of staff for only four months (May to September 2002), Cimatu has yet to comment on the allegations against him.

Replace Cimatu

But his brother, retired Chief Supt. Fidel Cimatu, has told Bombo Radyo that the former chief of staff would answer his accusers “as soon as he’s back from Cairo.”

During the same radio interview, Fidel also dismissed as “lies” all disclosures made by Rabusa against his brother.

Bayan secretary general Reyes said Mr. Aquino “should show political will by replacing Cimatu.” He said many career diplomats in the DFA could replace him.

“And just think of what other countries will think of us. That our special envoy is allegedly corrupt?” Reyes added.

Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT) said that “given the gravity of the allegations regarding his involvement in the plunder of the AFP’s coffers during his stint as chief of staff, Cimatu should be immediately recalled by Malacañang to face investigation.”

“How can he remain effective as Middle East envoy when all these questions remain unanswered?” Tinio said.

Like Reyes and Tinio, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino backed the call for Cimatu’s replacement.

Protect whistle-blowers

Palatino asked the House of Representatives to grant “special protection to potential whistle-blowers” from the DFA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) who knew about Cimatu’s alleged involvement in the misuse of the agency’s funds.

Migrante International and its affiliate in the Middle East, among other OFW groups, have accused Cimatu of misusing millions of pesos in OWWA funds intended for the repatriation of Filipino migrant workers in Iraq and Lebanon.

Garry Martinez, Migrante International chair, claimed that Cimatu had failed to account for “over $250,000” in funds allocated for the 2004 repatriation of OFWs in Iraq.

“The funds were spent instead on the procurement of vehicles and supplies of Filipino troops sent to Iraq that year,” he claimed.

Jerry Esplanada, Phil. Daily Inquirer