6ID chief named Western Mindanao Command head
Mindanao Peace Process • 06:30 AM Tue Jun 25, 2019
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By:
Ali G.Macabalang
Maj. Gen. Cirilito E. Sobejana, Commander of 6th Infantry Division (6th Infantry Division (Kampilan Facebook /)
COTABATO CITY – Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, incumbent head of the Army’s Sixth Infantry Division (6ID), has been named the new commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command (WMC) effective this week.
Major Arvin Encinas, 6ID Public Affairs Office chief, told the Manila Bulletin on Monday that Sobejana will official assume the WMC leadership on June 28 in formal turnover rites with predecessor Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega.
Dela Vega has opted for “early retirement,” paving the way for Commander-in-Chief and President Duterte to name Sobejana as his successor. Dela Vega, who had also held the 6ID leadership before taking over the WMC post 13 months ago, has at least four months more to serve before his mandatory age retirement. But no reason was given for his decision to retire earlier.
Encinas said Sobejana will formally relinquish the 6ID leadership on July 1 to Brig. Gen. Diosdado Carreon, who currently heads the Army’s 601st Infantry Division.
Last Saturday night, 6ID rank and file personnel tendered a farewell thanksgiving event for Sobejana.
Representatives and officials of civilian sectors within the 6ID areas of jurisdiction have taken turns in commending the Gen. Sobejana for his “colorful” 13-month stint in the 6ID.
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Minister Abdulraof Macacua cited Sobejana’s role in the attainment of “high (level of) peace and low disturbance” in Central Mindanao.