2007.04.22: April 22, 2007: Headlines: COS- Philippines: Safety: Journalism: Crime: Murder: International Herald Tribune: Filipinos defend slain Peace Corps volunteer against remarks by Justice Secretary
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2007.04.14: April 14, 2007: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Safety: Chicago Tribune: Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell Missing in Philippines :
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2007.04.19: April 19, 2007: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Safety: Journalism: Crime: GMATV: Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez says: Julia Campbell partly to blame for own tragedy :
2007.04.22: April 22, 2007: Headlines: COS- Philippines: Safety: Journalism: Crime: Murder: International Herald Tribune: Filipinos defend slain Peace Corps volunteer against remarks by Justice Secretary
Filipinos defend slain Peace Corps volunteer against remarks by Justice Secretary
Raul Gonzalez, the secretary of the Department of Justice, told reporters on Thursday that Julia Campbell, a Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Virginia, whose bludgeoned body was found on Wednesday, had been "a little irresponsible" for venturing out alone on a hike to a remote village in the northern Philippines on April 8. "Why would she walk alone in this remote mountain?" Gonzalez told reporters on Thursday. "She was careless that she took a lonely walk in this deserted area." In the past few days, newspapers, television broadcasts and Web sites have reported widespread anger over those statements, which further agitated a nation already outraged by her death. The Filipino family with whom she lived in Legazpi, a city southeast of Manila, where she last volunteered as a teacher, tearfully denounced Gonzalez on television Friday.
Filipinos defend slain Peace Corps volunteer against remarks by Justice Secretary
Filipinos defend slain Peace Corps volunteer
By Carlos H. Conde
Published: April 22, 2007
MANILA: A comment made by the justice secretary of the Philippines that has been widely interpreted as blaming a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer for her own murder has caused an outcry here.
Raul Gonzalez, the secretary of the Department of Justice, told reporters on Thursday that Julia Campbell, a Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Virginia, whose bludgeoned body was found on Wednesday, had been "a little irresponsible" for venturing out alone on a hike to a remote village in the northern Philippines on April 8.
"Why would she walk alone in this remote mountain?" Gonzalez told reporters on Thursday. "She was careless that she took a lonely walk in this deserted area."
In the past few days, newspapers, television broadcasts and Web sites have reported widespread anger over those statements, which further agitated a nation already outraged by her death.
The Filipino family with whom she lived in Legazpi, a city southeast of Manila, where she last volunteered as a teacher, tearfully denounced Gonzalez on television Friday.
Gabriela, the country's largest women's group, said Gonzalez should resign. "He is a national shame," Liza Maza, the group's leader and a member of Congress, said Saturday.
Web sites and blogs have been flooded with comments criticizing the secretary. "Didn't his grandmother ever tell him to just shut up when he's got nothing good to say? Such insensitivity!" Aileen Clemente said in an e-mail to gmanews.tv, one of the nation's largest broadcasters.
Gonzalez did not respond to a reporter's requests for an interview. Ignacio Bunye, the president's spokesman, said on Saturday that Gonzales "was entitled to his own opinion."
Campbell's body was found buried near a creek, her head bludgeoned several times, the police said. The chief inspector of the police, Mamerto Bernabe, a pathologist who headed the autopsy, said "multiple blunt traumatic injuries of the head" had caused her death, The Associated Press reported on Saturday.
The police said robbery was a possible motive for the crime, adding that they had identified as a suspect the husband of the woman who had sold Campbell a Coca-Cola before she began her hike in the remote area in Ifugao Province, about 260 kilometers, or 160 miles, north of Manila.
The woman, however, told GMA television that her husband was not in the area when Campbell disappeared.
Gonzalez is known for his blunt, often acerbic, statements. In February, he called a United Nations official who was investigating the ongoing killings of leftists throughout the country a "muchacho," or errand boy.
Campbell lived in the Philippines for two years, helping poor communities with environmental conservation projects and teaching English.
Her blog, juliainthephilippines.blogspot.com, is now a veritable shrine, where Filipinos pour out their prayers and grief. Since her death, more than 200 comments have been posted.
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Headlines: April, 2007; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Journalism; Crime; Murder
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Story Source: International Herald Tribune
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS- Philippines; Safety; Journalism; Crime; Murder
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