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A woodcarver wanted over the murder of a US Peace
Corps worker in Ifugao has been turned in by his mother, police said
Friday.
Juan Dontugan, 25, is the main
suspect in the killing of Julia Campbell, whose battered body was
found in a shallow grave near the hill country tourist resort of
Batad on April 18.
He was handed over to the Ifugao
provincial police office in the town of Lagawe, police intelligence
sources said, after going into hiding hours after Campbell’s body
was found.
Murder charges were expected to
be filed within the next four days, regional police spokesman Supt.
Joseph Adnol said.
The 40-year-old Campbell, who
worked as a volunteer teacher in impoverished villages, disappeared
after going trekking alone near Batad on April 8.
She was last seen buying a soft
drink at a store run by Dontugan’s wife and was apparently beaten
around the head and body before being buried. Her remains were
cremated in Manila on Thursday.
Police earlier said they
recovered a pair of bloodstained trousers believed to be
Dontugan’s. A piece of wood believed to have been the murder
weapon and a crowbar were also recovered.
The victim had worked in the
Philippines for the past two years. She previously lived in New
York, where she worked as a freelance journalist for publications
including The New York Times.
Senior Supt. Pedro Ganir, Ifugao
police chief, said Dontugan hid in Banaue.
The killing of Campbell has not
discouraged domestic and foreign tourists from visiting Banaue and
its environs like Batad village, Department of Tourism Director
Purificacion Molintas said.
Molintas described as “brisk”
the tourist arrivals in Banaue.
“The tourist arrivals in Banaue
remain normal and the months of March, April and May are the peak
season for domestic tourists, while countless foreign tourists
usually visit in the months of November and December,” she said.
Molintas, however, said a group
of more than 50 domestic tourists canceled their hotel reservation
in Banaue following reports of the Campbell killing.
Campbell was one of 137 Peace
Corps volunteers assigned to the country. Since the program was
launched in the Philippines in 1961, over 8,000 Peace Corps
volunteers have been sent the country.
--AFP, Anthony Vargas and
Harley Palangchao
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