Medal of Valor awardee is new 6th ID commanding general

MAGUINDANAO - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front joined the symbolic installation of the new commander of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division on Saturday, first ever in the unit’s 30-year history.Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1987, took over from Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, now commander of the Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City.Dela Vega, who belong to PMA’s Class 1985, was 6thID’s commander for more than a year prior to his designation as chief of WestMinCom by President Rodrigo Duterte.The MILF was represented in the event, held at Camp Gonzalo Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao by Von Al-Haq, Toks Ebrahim and members of their Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities led by Butch Malang.Units of 6thID and the MILF are cooperating in maintaining tranquility in conflict flashpoint areas based on an interim ceasefire pact between the group and Malacañang, the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities.Sobejana, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu before he got to the helm of 6thID, said he will support extensively Duterte’s peace process with the MILF, just the way his predecessors, Dela Vega andGen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., now chief of the Armed Forces, did.Sobejana, while a junior officer, receive a Medal of Valor for gallantry in combat.Also present in the turnover program were local officials from provinces in Region 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, among them ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Jhazzer Mangudadatu, incumbent member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in Maguindanao.Sobejana told reporters at the sideline of the activity that he will sustain 6thID’s peace-building programs pioneered by Galvez and Dela Vega in keeping with Malacañang’s southern peace process, meant to put a negotiated closure to the now 50-year Moro issue. Of course the 6thID will need the support of all local government units inside its area of responsibility. I am thankful that the LGUs in this part of the country are very supportive of peaceful means of addressing local security concerns, he said.The 6thID covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and several towns in Lanao del Sur, where there government-recognized enclaves of the MILF, now called peace zones. The command transition from Dela Vega to Sobejana was presided over by Gen. Rolando Joselito Bautista, commanding general of the Philippine Army.The ceremony was capped off with the grant of a distinguished service star citation to Dela Vega for his accomplishments while 6thID’s commander.Dela Vega was instrumental in the liberation of more than a dozen barangays in Maguindanao and North Cotabato from Islamic State-inspired militants led by Abu Toraife.Toraife, a radical cleric, is self-proclaimed revolutionary emir of a faction in the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.The BIFF uses the Islamic State flag and is feared for the enforcement by its commanders of a Taliban-style justice system that local Muslim communities detest for being ruthless and primitive.Dela Vega also played a key role in the surrender in batches in recent weeks of 15 BIFF members, four of them trained by the slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, in fabrication of improvised explosive devices.The now reforming former BIFF members are now being ushered into mainstream society by the 6thID and the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu via socio-economic and psycho-social interventions.