OPAPP sec head in Central Mindanao passes away

COTABATO CITY – The government lost one of its peace advocates in Muslim Mindanao due to cardiovascular attack on June 30, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) office here reported.

Retired Major Carlos Sol Jr., more known as “Director Jun Sol” was head of the Combined Secretariat of the Government of the Philippines’ Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the GPH-MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), prior to his death.

Sol died two days after suffering from a stroke, his second since April this year, around 11 p.m. at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in this city. He was 61.

“He is best remembered as the man who crosses the line of fire between government forces and MILF to implement the ceasefire agreement,” retired Army Colonel Dickson Hermoso, OPAPP assistant secretary for peace and security, said in a statement.

“We have relative peace now in the Bangsamoro and Jun Sol was one of the so many who dedicated themselves to peace,” he added.

“It is so sad to know that we lost one of the many advocates for peace,” Capt. Joanne Petinglay, former spokesperson of the Army’s 6th

Infantry Division, commented on social media.

Petinglay worked closely with Sol Jr. on the GPH-MILF peace process during her stint with the 6ID in Central Mindanao.

Sol and his counterpart in the MILF had been implementing protocols to ensure that the 1997 agreement on the cessation of hostilities is observed by both parties.

Sol was formerly connected with the Ministry of Human Settlements before joining the Philippine Army in 1987.

His remains lie in state at Cumilang Residence in Barangay Mirasol, Alamada, North Cotabato. He is survived by his wife Valerie and their daughter Karla.