Roy Cimatu’s “Battle for Mother Earth”

By: Bob Boyer

 

Roy Cimatu caught my attention in the news early this year for his “Battle for Mother Earth” (“Sunday Manila Times Magazine,” Feb. 16, 2020). It strikes me as appropriate that the article was written by Iza Iglesias, since “Iglesia” means “church” in Spanish. Churches in the Philippines strongly support environmental protection.

The Iglesias article was my fi rst acquaintance with Roy Cimatu, now the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the Philippines. I was fascinated to get this glimpse of Cimatu’s career. Iglesias follows him from his fi rst career as the highly decorated General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Moro Confl ict to Special Ambassador to Overseas Filipino (OFW) Refugees in the Middle East (appointed by President Arroyo) to head of the DENR. As I wrote back in March, he was appointed as Secretary by President Duterte to clean up the “environmental cesspool” of Borocay, once a prized tourist attraction, and then tasked by the president to take on the long-polluted Manila Harbor.

While working on Manila Harbor, a three-year project, and continuing as DENR Secretary, Cimatu has now been assigned by Duterte to fi nd a way to control the rampant spread of COVID-19 in Cebu City and Cebu Province. He clearly and deservedly has impressed President Duterte, and Duterte deserves credit for recognizing and employing his talents. As readers of this column know, I have serious reservations about President Duterte. My March article, “Cimatu, De Lima, and Duterte,” was only partly about Cimatu. One of my criticisms of Duterte is, as I see it, his unlawful imprisonment of Senator Leila De Lima.

I wrote the March article partly to try to balance my criticism with praise when due. And I decided to keep an eye on Cimatu. Clearly he continues to impress as an effective leader, including in the disparate areas of environmental management and national health. As I noted in March, Cimatu literally shut down Borocay for six months and succeeded in restoring it as a fi ve-star tourist attraction.

Then Duterte assigned Cimatu to take on the even bigger challenge of Manila Harbor. Cimatu started, appropriately, by establishing—and enforcing—stricter regulations to clean up the Pasig River and its estuaries that carry great quantities of garbage from the Metro Manila area into Manila Harbor. This is a key part of the harbor cleanup. More recently Cimatu has improved a section of harbor shoreline, covering the grimy brown sand with crushed-dolomite white sand. Duterte has appropriately given Cimatu high marks so far for his handling of the Manila Harbor project.

Then in June of this year Duterte became upset with the people of Cebu (city and province) for being “hardheaded” and not paying suffi cient attention to the pandemic (“GMA News,” June 20, 2020, Virgil Lopez). Cebu City at the time had “the highest number of COVID-19 cases nationwide” and was under “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ), the highest (hottest) rating level.

A series of “Philippine Inquirer” headlines subsequently points to the effectiveness Cimatu has brought to his added assignment: “As cases rise, Cimatu to coordinate Cebu City execs on COVID-19 response,” (“Inquirer.net,” June 27, 2020, Katrina Hallare). The article reports, “What the secretary has said yesterday [is] that what is important is the leaders of the city should act as one, so the people won’t get confused.” Sound advice certainly. A July 23 “Inquirer.net” headline reports rapid progress in bringing the situation under control: “Cimatu sees Cebu City shift to GCQ by Aug.1.” GCQ is a change from “Enhanced” to “General” Community Quarantine, a signifi cant improvement. This October an “Inquirer.net” headline reads, “In Cebu City, virus-free barangays to get P100,000 (about $50,000) reward.”

Other headlines point out that while Cimatu has been managing the pandemic in Cebu, he was at the same time attending to his duties to the environment and in fact broadening his approach to his war for “Mother Earth”: “Solar-powered sewage treatment plants to be built in Metro Manila” (“Inquirer.net,” July 23, 2020). Solar energy, a “clean” industry, will help to clean up the harbor. And, perhaps in his most sweeping environmental move, Cimatu may be able to move conservation to a new level. “Cimatu: PH leaning toward declaring climate emergency,” (Inquirer. net,” October 12, 2020).

Cimatu seems to have been able to persuade Duterte to give the Philippines this special environmental status that will enable the country to take more extensive measures to protect “Mother Earth”. Smart move by both men, who clearly are a team.

Bob Boyer welcomes your comments at Robert.boyer@snc.edu.