THE NEGOTIATOR

He was leafing through some papers when he was informed that a "military mutiny was in progress" at Makati City. He was said to be skeptical about the information and it was not until he switched on the TV that he found out how serious the situation was. He saw three hundred armed soldiers led by a young lieutenant named Antonio Trillanes IV setting up camp inside the posh Oakwood Hotel. And after a short phone conversation with Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Cimatu rushed over to Malacañang to meet with Cabinet members and other ranking government officials.

When Cimatu mentioned to them that he personally knew many of the soldiers of the Magdalo Group holed up at Oakwood, he was immediately tasked to become the government’s chief negotiator. Cimatu did not hesitate and hastily conferred with afp Vice-Chief of Staff Lt. General Rodolfo Garcia on the military situation and their plans. Before long, Cimatu and his team left for Makati and proceeded to the parking lot of the Intercontinental Hotel, barely a stone’s throw away from Oakwood.

"I decided to cancel my flight but instructed the advance party to proceed to Kuwait that very night. I don’t know if the booking schedule which postponed my trip was God’s way of telling me to stay behind for another day to do a job for our country and our people, but it certainly looked like it," Cimatu says.

Whatever it was, Cimatu wasted little time thinking about it and went to work. A little before 5 pm, which was the original deadline set by President Arroyo for the rebel soldiers to stand down, Cimatu learned that some of the men had already surrendered through the efforts of their classmates at the military academy.

"That was an indicator that there were cracks within the Magdalo Group and the pressure of the 5 pm deadline. I knew then that this act of surrender was contagious," Cimatu imparts during a media forum in Quezon City last week.

Cimatu says that while officers of the revolt were voicing out their grievances to reporters, the government’s ground forces were moving to their assault positions and that air and artillery support were already in place.

"I knew that a rocket and artillery attack would have leveled Oakwood to the ground," he reveals. "It would have been horrific. I just did my best to prevent all that from happening. We only had two simple objectives that had to come out of our negotiation: to ensure that the siege situation would not deteriorate into a major predicament, and to resolve the crisis peacefully."

Cimatu and his team learned that Senators Tito Sotto III, Rodolfo Biazon and Gringo Honasan, along with Secretary Mike Defensor and Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Velasco, were talking with the rebel core group. He waited his turn to be able to talk with them and was about to have a conversation with some lower level officers when someone told him that the mutiny leaders had agreed to meet with him.

He was escorted to the seventh floor where the senators briefed him on what they talked about. He admits that he was "quite intimidated" when he saw The Philippine STAR publisher Max Soliven.

"The presence of Mr. Soliven was requested by the group which initially made me uneasy, knowing how he turned critical to any failure in such operations. And it turned out later that he made some very good contributions during our discussions," he discloses.

Cimatu also met Lt. SG Trillanes for the first time.

"I did not know him (Trillanes) personally until that day but I heard about him as a good Navy Officer. My opening word to the leaders was ‘Relax‚’ as if I was still their commander. You see, I’ve been with a lot of those men in Basilan and Jolo during our operations against the Abu Sayyaf in 2001 and 2002," he says, adding, "I’ve been through a lot, actually."

Indeed, Roy Cimatu has seen much of what there is to see in the field that he has chosen and loved.
From his days as a young cadet in the Philippine Military Academy (pma) to his duties as an
ambassador initiating and overseeing the evacuation of hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers (ofw) in Iraq, Cimatu has always excelled.

He was born in the town of Bangui in Ilocos Norte on July 4–the day we earned our independence from the United States. Cimatu says that the date may have been a coincidence or fate or destiny foretelling that he "will serve to protect our freedom and peace as a soldier."

As a youth Cimatu displayed a natural liking for academics and sports–and he excelled in both. His obvious thirst for knowledge and education prepared him for the many challenges of life ahead. He received a graduate degree from the Ateneo de Manila under the Professional Masters Program and Masters of Business Administration. He was the top graduate in the Infantry Officer’s Advance Course from the training command of the Philippine Army in 1978 with an average rating of 97.27 percent–the highest record to date. Cimatu is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas City where he was awarded a plaque of recognition for academic excellence.

After his making his mark in the pma he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Philippine Army. He did combat action with the 11th and 3rd Infantry Battalions in Cotabato and later in Sulo during the height of the secessionist movements in the early 1970s.

True to form, he rose up the ranks of soldiery, serving as platoon leader and company commander on combat duty. Cimatu soon became Deputy Chief of Staff for Comptrollership at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces and was able to secure plenty of funds that "ensured the afp’s operations, particularly the expensive repair of mobility assets, support to the requirements of the mnlf integration program and, more importantly, the significant increase in the subsistence allowances of soldiers."

He had an exemplary tour of duty as comptroller at ghq, which is why he was then given the very vital position of Commanding General of the 4th Infantry Division, when he carried out his best and most dangerous work as a military man. It was during another secessionist dispute that he led the capture of numerous milf camps in Lanao del Nore and Lanao del Sur and cleared the Narciso Ramos Highway to take over Camp Bushra and Camp Abubakar –the largest rebel camps in the country. At the height of this campaign, Cimatu was promoted to Major General.

His ability to negotiate with the enemy was proven long before the Oakwood stand-off, when he spearheaded talks that led to the surrender of more than 2,600 milf rebels. He was also the one who formulated the famous "Oplan Day Break", which carried out the rescue of American Gracia Burnham and the elimination of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya.

Such accomplishments soon propelled him to the highest post of the afp when he was chosen as its Chief of Staff. During his term, he emphasized the optimal use of current capabilities and improving the skills of each soldier to address threats to national security and terrorism.

After more than three decades of colorful military life, Roy Cimatu retired from military service in September 2002. But that did not mean he slowed down. He received a call from the Office of the President and was appointed special presidential envoy to the Middle East–with the rank of ambassador–in anticipation of the US-Iraq war.

"I did not exactly know what was in front of me when I accepted the ambassadorship, but I complied because there was a military division that was involved. I was to look after the welfare of a million ofws in the Middle East. It was more of a military thing, really," Cimatu says in an interview. "Perhaps I was chosen because of my background. But maybe my diplomatic personality made it a whole lot easier for me. Nakatulong din naman."

As a diplomat, Roy Cimatu continued his courageous and brilliant efforts and headed the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee (pmepc). Its mandate was to organize the appropriate responses, formulate policies, develop modes for coordination, and put into effect all plans and monitor their implementation. All this was done in relation with the critical developments then obtaining in Iraq.

When the war broke out, Ambassador Cimatu and party never left the Middle East, staying in Kuwait in the heat of the battle. He also led in coordinating the implementation of contingency plans previously prepared and set into place.

Such groundwork and planning was one of the reasons why not a single ofw was hurt in the war or got "dislocated from employment". Once again, Cimatu displayed his outstanding leadership skills in averting crisis.

According to his cousin, newspaper columnist Jonathan dela Cruz, Cimatu is an "intelligent man of few words" whose character is always on the good side.

"He is thoughtful and compassionate. He speaks little because he lets his actions do the talking. He’s a very no-nonsense person and I guess that’s why he is very successful in everything he does...always thinking one step ahead," dela Cruz reveals.

If there is one thing about Roy Cimatu that will be etched in the minds of people, it would be his role in resolving the July 27 mutiny. And it once again proved his ability to prevail in any position. One can see the great irony where Cimatu, who as a young military man violently fought with radicals to achieve peace, was now trying to achieve it by talking with a young officer.

"I promised them that all their demands would be endorsed to the President for proper disposition," Cimatu reveals. "And that was the beginning of the resolution. I then rang up Secretary Romulo for him to approve the terms of the rebel group."

Cimatu then proposed a "back to barracks" scheme, wherein the rebels would be transported to Fort Bonifacio for processing, after which they would be returned to their respective units. They would immediately be investigated through due process.

The Magdalo group agreed to the scheme on condition that the five members of the core group would take all the responsibility and their followers would be reinstated.

"I admire Lt. Trillanes when he told me that the leaders of the mutiny wanted none of their followers charged with anything and that they wanted to face the music themselves. It was leadership... I hope everything turns out well for him," Cimatu discloses.

The crisis was all over by about 10 pm. And as Cimatu looked around the Oakwood Hotel, he saw the smiling faces of his former soldiers. "I told myself, we just saved the lives of these men. It was a wonderful thing as government soldiers and the rebels embraced as if they were one again. And as I stepped outside, I looked back at the hotel and thought of what it might have been. I said a short prayer: ‘Thank you God, for helping us solve a crisis’."

It was a fitting end to yet another chapter of Cimatu’s exceptional career. Asked whether he planned to run for public office or if he would accept the job of defense secretary in case it was offered, he chuckles, smiles, and shakes his head.

"Oh no, no. I just would like to fade away," he insists. "I think I have served our country already. And after all this is over, I would like to go back to the province and well, continue planting trees."

Despite all that he has achieved, Cimatu remains a humble man, happily married to wife Fe. They are blessed with a son, Dennis. He is said to be a loving husband and father and maintains his identity as a soldier’s soldier, true to his country and his people.