The Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, Major General Diosdado Carreon. (6ID photo)
COTABATO CITY -- The new commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID) has ordered all military units in Central Mindanao to take extra safety precautions so that off-duty soldiers can avoid being preyed on by lawless elements.
Maj. Gen. Diosdado Carreon, 6ID chief and concurrent head of Joint Task Force Central, issued the directive Wednesday following the recent broad daylight ambush of two off-duty soldiers here that left one of them dead and another in critical condition.
Carreon expressed regret over the death of Cpl. Herminio Belano of the Army’s Special Forces Battalion and wounding of Cpl. Pacifico Obillo who were ambushed at the corner of Gonzalo Javier Street and Oblate Drive in Barangay Rosary Heights 6, this city, around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday (July 2).
Carreon said the 6ID has coordinated with other law enforcement agencies to prevent similar attacks in the future. Several soldiers, mostly off-duty, have been killed by gunmen in the city and in Maguindanao over the past few years.
The attacks are blamed on the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which has been the subject of military operations in Maguindanao.
The ambush of Belano and Obillo came after a soldier, Pvt. John Malvic Cagape Pido, 25, also of the 6ID, survived on June 30 an attempt on his life in Sultan Kudarat town, Maguindanao. (PNA)
