UPDATE: Here are some links to stories about the ongoing trial against Juan Dontugan:
Inquirer. Campbell’s mother recalls her in testimony.
Manila Bulletin. Prosecution rejects the plea-bargain offer of the defense, i.e., the conviction of the accused for the lower case of homicie.
ABS-CBN. Teener testifies that he saw the defendant near the place where the victim was found.
Inquirer. Campbell’s mother, sister finally see parts of Ifugao’s terraces.

FIRST POST. The story below by Mike Guimbatan gives us the latest information on the murder case filed against our kailiyan Juan Dontugan.

Those who missed our earlier posts about this case might want to click the following links: Julia Campbell: Missing in Ifugao; Video Updates on Julia Campbell; On Juan Dontugan’s Surrender and Confession; People vs. Dontugan I; and People vs. Dontugan II.

According to Mike’s report, a hearing is scheduled today but we doubt if this will happen because August 20 was declared a holiday to commemorate the assassination of Ninoy Aquino.

We will see what the papers will report tomorrow on this meeting between Duntugan and the family of the Peace Corps volunteer he, unfortunately, killed.

Campbell’s mother, other kin to attend murder hearing set Aug. 20-21 in Ifugao
By Mike Guimbatan Jr.

BAGUIO CITY – Mrs. Linda Campbell, mother of slain US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, will attend the hearing on Aug. 20 and 21 in Lagawe, Ifugao.

The accused in the case is Juan Donald Dontugan.

Lawyer Reynaldo U. Agranzamendez, Baguio-based lead counsel of the Campbell family, said Julia’s mother, Mrs. Linda Campbell who lives in Fairfax, Virginia, US informed him through email that she and some family members will be in Manila on Aug. 19 and attend the hearing in Ifugao on Aug. 20.

Agranzamendez said the Campbells also intend to visit the terraces that mystified their daughter.

Julia’s elder sister, Geary Campbell Morris, wrote, “I want to be where she walked.” She wrote this 11 times in several font sizes on a paper with the scenic Banaue Terraces as backdrop.

Relatives and friends of Julia, a former writer of St. Petersburg Times and the New York Times, are longing to know the progress in the murder case.

“Our family seeks the truth and atonement for this crime,” Campbell’s mother was quoted to have said. “She had so much to offer. She would have given the shirt off of her back if asked. She did not deserve to die for the small items in her possession at the time,” the mother wrote.

Geary told St. Petersburg Times in an April 19 issue that the family planned for a homecoming party in July when Julia’s Peace Corps term would have ended.

She said her sister was supposed to start graduate study at the New York University by August.

During the July 23 preliminary hearing in Ifugao, several relatives of self-confessed killer Juan Dontugan from abroad attended the hearing to lend him moral support.

Dontugan publicly admitted last April that he killed Campbell.

Agranzamendez and his partner Miguel Liceralde, aided by their son-lawyers, said all is set for the formal trial on Aug. 20.

Agranzamendez said the change of defense counsel will not affect the upgraded murder charge and the presentation of witnesses.

In the amended murder charges, the killing of Campbell was accordingly attended by treachery, evident premeditation, and cruelty. In addition to the original criminal information, the prosecutors cited as aggravating circumstances that Duntugan killed Campbell “with abuse of superior strength, … (took) advantage of nightime, and disregard(ed) the sex (gender) of the victim.”

Police investigation records said, Duntugan confessed killing Campbell, but claimed it was accidental after the American allegedly bumped into him in the narrow foot trail going to the famed Battad, Rice Terraces.

Duntugan who hails from La Trinidad, Benguet, said he thought Campbell was a neighbor with whom he had a longstanding grudge.

He said it was too late when he realized that it was Campbell whom he hit with a stone.

Campbell, who was on a two-year work tour, had gone to Banaue for a vacation and had planned to return to Manila on April 10. She was reported missing the following day

RELATED POSTS: Missing in Ifugao; Video Updates on Julia Campbell; On Juan Dontugan’s Surrender; People vs. Dontugan I; People vs. Dontugan II. SOURCE: Manila Bulletin