TV reporter faces arrest for ‘snubbing’ Campbell slay trial

LAGAWE, Ifugao – A regional trial court judge here has ordered the arrest of a television reporter for his continued failure to appear and continue his testimony in the ongoing murder trial of the self-confessed killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell.

Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor issued a bench warrant for arrest of ABS-CBN reporter Jay Ruiz upon motion of the prosecution so he would appear in the next hearing on March 3. Ruiz’s absence in the resumption of the Campbell trial on Monday was the third time he failed to appear and continue his previous testimony in the trial of 24-year-old Juan Donald Duntugan, self-confessed killer of 40-year-old Campbell.

Ruiz’s failure to appear the last hearing resulted in the prosecution’s failure to wrap up its case against Duntugan, as it presented what should have been its final witness, Francis Binalit, father-in-law of the accused. Ruiz would was due for cross-examination by defense lawyers during his return to the witness stand. In his testimony, Binalit told the court he had given Duntugan a bolo, which he did not know his son-in-law would use against Campbell.

The bolo was later presented as an exhibit in the case. The prosecution team led by provincial prosecutor Joseph Tumapang and lawyer Reynal do Agranzamendez Sr., head of the four-man team of the Baguio City-based law firm Agranza mendez Liceralde Gallardo and Associates, is seeking to prove that Duntugan killed Campbell willfully and with knowledge of who she was.

Duntugan’s defense counsels, lawyers Pedro Mayam-o and Eugene Ballitang, meanwhile, are trying to downgrade his case to homicide, saying he did not do it on purpose. Earlier, the prosecution presented as witnesses Camp bell’s mother Linda, a 14-year-old youth who saw Duntugan at the crime scene, several experts from the Philippine National Police, and the masseuse who reported Campbell to be missing.

Two Americans also testified, including a fellow tourist who recalled seeing Campbell before she disappeared and was found dead. A representative of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical, Astronomical Services Administration also appeared in court, saying it was not so dark when Duntugan allegedly committed the crime.

Campbell, a native of Fair fax, Virginia, was to fly back to the United States after her stint as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English at a public school in Sorsogon province, when she decided to go on vacation for several days in Banaue, Ifugao in April last year.

Shortly after arriving in Batad village in Banaue, Campbell failed to appear for a scheduled massage at her rented cottage, which prompted her masseuse to report her absence to local authorities. The US Embassy later declared her missing and sought information on her whereabouts. After nearly three weeks, search teams found Camp bell’s body half-buried in a shallow creek in Batad, only a few hundred meters below Duntugan’s house. – CL