COTABATO CITY, 18 April 2004 — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been virtually “cleared” by the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) of charges that its troops has involved in the abductions, cattle-rustling and also took sides in the fighting between two clans in the southern province of Maguindanao.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the CCCH’s representatives from the government and the separatist group visited the area to look into the conflict between Madekay Kamid and his opponent Esmail Salik in Nunangan village of Talitay town.

Leading the MILF panel was the chairman himself, Benjie Midtimbang. The government side was led by 1st Lt. Bounggaling, representing panel head Major Obsioma.

In the course of the committee’s investigation done in the presence and participation of Talitay municipal Vice Mayor Renier Ampatuan and spokesman Capt. Onting Alon of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, it turned out that “allegations made against MILF were all baseless and indeed a product of fabrication.”

The official reports of the joint committee will be discussed tomorrow by the CCCH “for their appreciation and adoption,” Arab News learned.

According to the probers’ report, it was actually because of the intervention of the MILF leadership in the area that the group of Madekay released two persons it had detained on suspicion that they were allied with the other side.

On the cattle-rustling charges, Vice Mayor Ampatuan himself clarified that charge was fabricated by those involved in a shooting in Nunangan “to mislead the public and authorities.”

He said the acts were perpetrated by a local politician “who wanted to exploit the issue to his own advantage.”

Kabalu said trouble could have surely erupted anew had it not been for the presence of MILF forces in the area, “a reality which was also appreciated by the vice mayor and the barangay officials.”

The CCCH was created to look into violations of the standing cease-fire agreement between the government and the MILF.

Next month, panles from the two sides will resume talks in Malaysia, which is brokering the negotiations in hopes of providing a lasting political solution to the decades old fighting in the southern Philippines.