COTABATO CITY — At least 37 new Army lieutenants have been added to the community-based contingents of the 6th Infantry Division, supporting peacebuilding efforts that align with Malacañang's peace initiatives with Moro communities in Central Mindanao.
Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of 6th ID, told reporters on Friday, January 17, that the newly-commissioned lieutenants completed on Wednesday, along with 100 privates, an orientation training at the 6th Division Training School in Barangay Semba in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.
The newly commissioned second lieutenants, seven of them women, and privates shall be assigned to various units of 6th ID in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
“They shall also participate extensively in peacekeeping duties meant to ensure safe and honest elections in May this year,” Nafarrete said.
Col. Roberto Breboneria, commandant of 6th ID’s training school, and Brigadier Gen. Nasser Lidasan, 6th ID’s assistant division commander, together officiated Wednesday’s symbolic rite that marked the culmination of the orientation training of the new second lieutenants and privates.
The 6th ID, which covers two Bangsamoro provinces, the adjoining Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, and Cotabato City, the seat of the Bangsamoro government, has various multi-sector and inter-agency peacebuilding programs.
Among 6th ID’s cross-section peace and security thrusts are the collection, via cross-section dialogues, of unlicensed firearms from the local communities and the reintegration into mainstream society of former members of the terror groups Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Nafarrete and Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr. are overseeing the implementation in Central Mindanao of the government’s Small Arms and Light Weapons Program, most known as the SALW Program.
More than 600 assault rifles, M60 and .30 caliber machineguns, B40 rocket and 40-millimeter grenade launchers had been turned over, from July to December 2024, to units of 6th ID by residents of the provinces and cities under its jurisdiction in support of the SALW Program.