MORE NEWS, IFUGAO

Americans testify in Campbell slay case
By Joan Capuna

LAGAWE, Ifugao – American witnesses were presented by prosecutors in court here in the trial of the self-confessed suspect in the murder of United States Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell who was killed on April 8, 2007.

The hearing resumed at the Banaue Regional Trial Court here on Dec. 31 even as court sources said the hearing could be completed this June.

Provincial prosecutor Joseph Tumapang presented American witnesses Eric Young and David Berry.

Both testified in the continuation of the murder trial of Juan Donald Duntugan, self-confessed killer of Campbell.

Young, a tourist, like Campbell who was vacationing in Banaue at the time, testified he saw the 40-year-old US peace corps volunteer from Fairfax, Virginia, last April 7 or a day before she was reported missing.

Berry, a member of the search and rescue team, verified the body they retrieved from a shallow ditch several feet below Duntugan’s residence was that of Campbell.

ABS-CBN correspondent Jay Ruiz, who was expected to take the witness stand for cross-examination by the defense counsel led by lawyer Pedro Mayam-o, again failed to appear in court.

Ruiz sent a note that his appearance before the court should be approved by their ABS-CBN news director Maria Ressa and that any subpoena ordering his attendance should be addressed to her.

He is expected to appear in the next hearing on Feb. 4 and 5 together with the last witness Francis Binalit to be presented by the prosecution.

Banaue Judge Ester Piscoso Flor, meanwhile, adjourned the scheduled hearing on Jan. 8 due to lack of witnesses to be presented.

The testimony of Young and Berry was intended to bolster the case against the 25-year old Duntugan, a native of La Trinidad, Benguet, who is married to a resident of Batad, Banaue, where the incident occurred.

The interests of Campbell’s family in the trial are being represented by the four-man private prosecution tram from the Baguio City-based Agranzamendez Liceralde Gallardo law firm led by lawyer Reynaldo Agranzamendez Sr., dean of the University of the Cordilleras.

The prosecution has already presented most of its witnesses. The defense is expected to do likewise. According to court sources, a verdict could be had first quarter next year at the earliest and June at the latest.

Earlier, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney praised the Philippine judicial system’s handling the Campbell slay case, saying she was pleased with what she had learned so far.

Among those who have given their testimonies during the previous hearings were Campbell’s mother Linda, a 14-year-old youth who testified seeing Duntugan at the crime scene, the masseuse contacted by Campbell before she was reported missing and several expert witnesses from the police and other sources whose testimonies were intended to show Duntugan willfully killed the peace corps volunteer.