Turkish embassy, 6th ID strengthen peacebuilding cooperation

January 17, 2026 | 6:44pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, covering areas where there are enclaves of two erstwhile Moro secessionist fronts, have been reassured of their support for the activities in Mindanao of the Turkish-led Independent Decommissioning Body during a meeting with its representatives on Thursday, January 15.

The IDB and Malacañang are overseeing the decommissioning of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose 2014 truce with the national government paved the way for the replacement in 2019 of the then 27-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a more empowered Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Officials of the 6th ID, led by Brig. Gen. Patricio Amata, representing their commander, Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara and Turkish Ambassador Suat Akgun and his entourage from their embassy in Manila, met at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday and talked about the gains of the decommissioning agenda of the Mindanao peace process, as part of the reintegration of former Moro guerillas into mainstream society.

Amata and officials of 6th ID’s civil-military and public affairs offices in Camp Siongco, where their headquarters is located, told reporters on Saturday that the meeting gave them chance to reassure Akgun of the division's support for the decommissioning of former Moro rebels in areas inside the division’s territory, where there are state-recognized bastions of both the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front.

Officials of the MILF and the MNLF, which also has a separate peace compact with Malacanang, are together managing some of the support agencies and ministries under the BARMM government and have representatives too in the 80-seat Bangsamoro regional parliament.

Akgun, while with 6th ID officials, talked about the gains of IDB’s decommissioning thrusts complementing the government-MILF peace overture.

The decommissioning process is being supported overtly by the figurehead of the BARMM parliament, Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua, officials of the 6^th ID and Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the military’s western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City.

Different agencies of the BARMM regional government are providing the decommissioned former MILF guerillas with essential humanitarian and livelihood interventions to boost their productivity now that they are thriving peacefully in areas badly affected by armed conflicts in decades past.