BY JOAN CAPUNA
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Police filed murder charges before the Ifugao Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on April 30 against Juan Donald Dontugan, the woodcarver who confessed to beating to death US Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell in Banaue, Ifugao province last month.
After this, police took Dontugan to Camp Crame in Quezon City, where he was presented to media by Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon.
Among the evidence submitted by police against Dontugan, 24, was a signed affidavit in which he claimed to have killed Campbell in a fit of rage when she accidentally bumped into him as he was fuming over a neighborhood spat.
Police submitted 15 other pieces of evidence, among them Campbell’s personal belongings – a digital camera and two eyeglasses as well as a rice pestle and two pairs of denim pants. Police said they decided to elevate the case from robbery with homicide to murder due to Dontugan’s act of burying Campbell’s remains in a shallow grave.
Investigators initially thought of filing homicide charges against Dontugan, believing that Campbell’s killing was not premeditated.
Cordillera police director Chief Supt. Raul Gonzales said although the killing does not appear to be premeditated, Dontugan is still liable for murder because he tried to conceal the crime. “If he did not plan to kill her, he should have stopped when she was already wounded,” he said. “But no, he hit her repeatedly on the head until she died.”
Dontugan, a native of Benguet who now resides in Banaue with his wife, had admitted hitting Campbell on the head with a blunt object.
Ifugao Provincial Prosecutor Marvin Ngayawan said he and other prosecutors would evaluate the evidence submitted by police, including statements of at least six witnesses, then decide whether Dontugan would be charged in court with murder or homicide.
Dontugan appeared haggard when Calderon presented him to media on April 30.
He was wearing a gray jacket over red t-shirt, denim pants, and a pair of rubber slippers. He had not changed clothes since he surrendered to police last Friday April 25.
Calderon said the surrender last week of Dontugan was an encouraging development in the investigation. “We acknowledge the efforts of Dontugan’s mother and an uncle who facilitated the surrender.”
Calderon said based on Dontugan’s confession and statement before the Ifugao police in the presence of a lawyer from Public Attorney’s Office, Maribas Lubiton-Habawel, police recovered his bloodied sleeveless shirt and baseball cap, some personal belongings of Campbell, and a bloodied piece of firewood.
“But we are not taking his statements hook, line and sinker,” Calderon said. “We will cross-check his statements and the findings of our own investigation.”
Calderon said Dontugan’s confession would somehow apprehension of some tourists in visiting the picturesque rice terraces in Batad, Banaue for fear of suffering the fate of Campbell. “His confession indicated the incident was an isolated case,” Calderon said.
Calderon has instructed the Cordillera police to establish a tourist assistance center in Batad following this.
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