COTABATO CITY (November 13, 2025) — Officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and its new commander are certain of the surrender of more terrorists from two defunct terror groups, whose members who pledged allegiance to the government in batches in recent years have all been reintegrated into the local communities.
Officers in different units of 6th ID told reporters on Tuesday, November 11, after the installation of Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara then as their division commander by the chief of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, that they have been receiving lately more surrender feelers from remaining members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Some of those who had signified intention to turn themselves in are experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, according to local officials who attended Tuesday’s event, jointly presided over by Nafarrete and the former commander of 6th ID, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran.
The traditional Army unit command transition rite was held at Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, where the headquarters of 6th ID is located.
Cagara replaced Gumiran, who was designated commander of the Western Mindanao Command, covering Regions 9 and 12 and all five provinces and three cities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, just two weeks ago.
Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commander of the 602nd Infantry Brigade, and his counterpart in the 603rd Infantry Brigade, Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, separately said that officials of local government units in areas under their jurisdiction are helping secure the return to the fold of law of Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF members via backchannel dialogues.
Bunayog said most of the terrorists planning to avail of 6th ID’s reconciliation program for violent religious extremists have relayed their intentions to the division via local officials and Moro leaders supporting police and military peacebuilding and rehabilitation activities in former enclaves of the Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF, tagged in all deadly bombings in Central Mindanao in the past 10 years and have a reputation for fomenting hatred for non-Muslims.
While at Camp Siongco, Nafarrete and Gumiran told reporters that Cagara shall oversee the return to mainstream society of Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members who have renounced their membership with both groups.
Units of the 6th ID and LGUs in Central Mindanao have worked out the surrender of 1,723 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members since 2021.
Regional officials who attended Tuesday’s change of command ceremony at Camp Siongco, among them Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua, who is figurehead of their 80-seat parliament, and his two his constituent-governors, Tucao Mastura of Maguindanao del Norte and Ali Midtimbang of Maguindanao del Sur, assured to help Cagara push forward 6th ID’s reconciliation program for Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members.
Macacua, Mastura and Midtimbang also separately promised Cagara and his two superiors, Gumiran and Nafarrete, to continue supporting the Small Arms and Light Weapons Program of the 6th ID and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, which is focused on collection of undocumented combat weapons from residents of towns and cities in Central Mindanao.
Photo shows the entrance gate in Camp Siongco, central command center of 6th ID, the largest Army division in Mindanao.