Report: Cimatu expected to arrive in Manila Tuesday night

Former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff and special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu is expected to arrive in Manila before midnight Tuesday. A report on dwIZ radio early Tuesday said Cimatu is to take an Emirates flight from Cairo and arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 11 p.m. Cimatu had been sent to Egypt to check on the situation of Filipinos there, in the wake of protests against President Hosni Mubarak, but the mission was called off. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Sunday it has enough people on the ground assisting Filipinos in Egypt, but did not say if the cancellation of Cimatu's mission to Egypt was because of a controversy involving the AFP. In past weeks, witnesses in congressional hearings had claimed former AFP chiefs of staff may have received huge amounts of money in "pasalubong" (welcome) and "pabaon" (send-off). [See story: DND forms more committees to probe AFP corruption] Last Thursday, former AFP fund manager retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa told a Senate hearing Cimatu received a P80-million “pabaon" upon his retirement. [See story: P86B in DND funds on hold amid AFP corruption issue] For its part, Malacañang said it is waiting for Cimatu to talk on the matter. “As far as I know, Cimatu has not talked about the issue, so let’s see what happens," deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte had said on government radio last Jan. 29. — LBG, GMA News