New 6th Infantry Division commander assumes post
COTABATO CITY — The new commander of Mindanao’s largest Army division Major Gen. Jose Vladimir R. Cagara took over its leadership on Tuesday, committing with leaders of two erstwhile Moro secessionist fronts to cooperate in community programs meant to sustain the gains of the national government’s Southern Mindanao peace process.
The chief of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete, officiated on Tuesday morning the assumption of Mr. Cagara as commander of the 6th Infantry Division (ID) at Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, in the presence of Bangsamoro regional officials and local executives from across Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces.
Mr. Cagara replaced Major Donald M. Gumiran, who was designated last month as chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, covering Region 9, parts of Region 12 and all the five provinces and three cities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Mr. Naferrete and Mr. Gumiran separately told reporters after the event that Mr. Cagara will reach out to officials of the Bangsamoro government and leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and support their peacebuilding activities in Central Mindanao.
Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua said the MILF will willingly complement with essential programs of the 6th ID’s civil-military operations, focused on addressing security issues via multi-sector dialogues, in BARMM’s Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces and in its regional capital, Cotabato City.
“Community dialogues to promote interfaith and cultural solidarity among all communities in these two provinces and in Cotabato City are the best means of maintaining law and order in these areas,” Mr. Macacua, who is chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, said.
The chairman of the MNLF’s central committee, BARMM Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin G. Sema, said all of their members in Central Mindanao will help implement all peace and security programs of 6th ID, with Mr. Cagara at its helm.
“We have a peace agreement with the national government that compels us to do so,” Mr. Sema said. — John Felix M. Unson
