Lopez to supporters: Give Cimatu a chance as DENR chief

President Rodrigo Duterte swears in Roy Cimatu as the new environment secretary in Malacañang. (Photo from MALACAÑANG)

Rejected Environment Secretary Gina Lopez has asked supporters who have been calling for her reinstatement to give her replacement, retired Armed Forces chief Roy Cimatu, a chance, and learn to “work together” with him.

“I welcome the appointment and look forward to working together with him in the sphere of development,” Lopez said on Monday evening during a vigil held by environmental groups outside the office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City. “He brings certain abilities to the DENR, and we can all work together.”

“No one carries all the qualifications,” Lopez said. “I have heard he is a good man, and we will give him a chance. After all, he was the one appointed by the President. We should give him a chance.”

Among those who were at the vigil were Greenpeace members, who had chained themselves to the DENR gates, and members of left-oriented groups, such as Sanlakas, who were chanting: “Ayaw namin kay Cimatu! (We don’t want Cimatu!).”

Left-leaning green groups, such as the Kalikasan Philippine Network for the Environment, have denounced Cimatu’s appointment, stating: “A military man in the DENR’s helm would betray the people’s longstanding clamour for social justice and environmental protection.”

“We urge Duterte to reconsider this decision, as Cimatu has virtually no track record on addressing environmental issues and instead has a record of defending environmental plunderers and engaging in corruption,” Kalikasan had said, in a statement on Tuesday.

But Lopez, after hearing the chants against Cimatu, said: “The President has appointed him. We’ll give it a go. Love also means giving others a chance as long as they don’t break the basic rules of integrity. It’s not good to judge people [and put them] in a box.”

Lopez expressed hope that, even if Cimatu was from the military, “He will be open enough to work with the [New People’s Army], and will have the heart enough to work with indigenous people…We have a non-negotiable commitment…for common good.”

Lopez courted controversy, but also support from leftists, by saying she would be willing to work with the the New People’s Army in rehabilitating mines.

The chants turned instead to “Bantayan ang DENR! (Guard the DENR!),” in reference to calls by groups such as Greenpeace to protect the agency from being taken over by business interests.

Lopez had earlier suggested that President Rodrigo Duterte himself take the helm of the DENR because it needed someone “matapang” (courageous).

“Then he appointed a four-star general that used to head the AFP,” Lopez observed.

“I like the President. I feel he’s a really good man,” she added. “So we give [Cimatu] a chance without sacrificing our values, principles because the President has appointed him and if we fight with him the country cannot come up.”

Green groups have blasted the President for not sticking by Lopez.

“If Duterte is true to his promise that ‘change is coming,’ he could have defied mining oligarchs by still reappointing Gina Lopez as environment secretary,” Kalikasan said. “Duterte could have appointed other deserving pro-people, pro-environment figures who will surely go above and beyond the standards of environmental leadership that Lopez demonstrated.”

Lopez admitted that, like the green groups, she was “also not happy” with her rejection by the Commission on Appointments.

“The reason for my rejection was…there was over-concern for due process, a lack of concern for the poor,” Lopez said in an interview with the media.

Though she has yet to meet with Duterte after her rejection, Lopez said she still believed in the President:

“I think if I were bypassed, the President would have reappointed me,” Lopez said. “But Congress and Senate rejected me. So it doesn’t leave the President any choice. This is not his decision.”

Saying she wouldn’t “need a position to help,” Lopez reiterated: “We can work together with General Cimatu.”

“I hope we can keep the development bias,” she added. “I hope [they keep] the policies we made – like the ban on open pit mining and no mining in watersheds, stopping the mining in areas… I hope they give a green economy a chance.”

A welcome ceremony for Cimatu was scheduled on Wednesday) at the DENR. /atm