Peacebuilder Army officer takes Army brigade post

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Bangsamoro regional officials were elated with the designation of a known peace advocate as the new commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade, covering provinces outside of the autonomous region, but have enclaves of two former Moro rebel fronts that have separate peace agreements with the government.

The headquarters of the 603rd Infantry Brigade is in Barangay Milbuk in the seaside Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12, less than 200 kilometers from Cotabato City, regional capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Brig. Ricky Bunayog, acting commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, personally installed Col. Manuel Leo Gador, via a traditional military rite on Wednesday, October 7, at the 603rd Infantry Brigade’s headquarters in Barangay Milbuk, replacing its temporary caretaker, Col. Glenn Loreto Caballero.

Gador, a senior staff in 6th ID's headquarters before he got to the helm of the 603^rd Infantry Brigade, is known for his active involvement in multi-sector community peacebuilding efforts in areas where he was assigned before he assumed a key post in the division, which also has jurisdiction over 601st and the 602nd Infantry Brigades that have units in towns that are under the Bangsamoro regional government.

“The areas being secured by the 603rd Infantry Brigade are outside of the Bangsamoro region, but have communities of both the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that have separate peace compacts with the national government, whose interest and welfare we in the Bangsamoro region look up to very intensely,” said Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Muslimin Sema.

Sema is chairman of the MNLF, which has members in Region 12’s seaside and upland towns and in all of the five provinces and three cities in BARMM.

“MNLF members in Region 12 shall support the peacebuilding programs of the new commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, a known peace advocate who has extensive experience in working with local government units in maintaining law and order in provinces where he was assigned before,” Sema said, referring to Gador, who belongs to the Class 1995 of the Philippine Military Academy.

Bunayog, who is based in 6th ID's headquarters in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, told reporters on Thursday that he had instructed Gador to reach out to local executives and leaders of both the MILF and the MNLF in all towns under his jurisdiction and to former members of the now defunct New People’s Army and involve them in his activities aimed at fostering religious and cultural solidarity among the local Muslim, Christian and indigenous non-Moro communities.

Local executives in the seaside Palimbang, Lebak and Kalamansig towns in Sultan Kudarat were quoted in Thursday’s radio reports as saying that they shall also support Gador’s leadership of the 603rd Infantry Brigade.