Here is Julia Campbell's BLOG site in the internet site-perhaps we could post a condolence !
Julia Campbell BLOGSaturday, January 13, 2007
Buhay Pa Tayo
One of the most familiar phrases people say here when you ask them how they are is "Eto" (here) or "Buhay pa" (still alive). Never has it had more meaning than in recent weeks here as we recover from one of the worst typhoons to hit the Philippines in decades.
I have written much in my blog lately - mostly because I've been busy, sometimes because I just don't know what to say anymore. When Typhoon Reming struck us on Nov. 30, 2006, hitting Legaspi (my new home) dead center, we all experienced a brush with serious injury, if not death. For a few minutes there, as the flood waters rushed inside my little apartment on Marquez Street, I wondered, 'Is this the way it's going to be?' I'll drown right here inside my tiny apartment far away from my family and friends? Thankfully the water stopped rising at my waist and the pressure was off.
But there were others here who were not so lucky. In a freak of nature, Typhoon Reming dumped what some say was 40 years of rain in one day. Heavy winds helped send torrents of water from the top of Mount Mayon crashing down on Legaspi below. So many times I've looked at Mayon and thought, 'How beautiful.' But now I look at her and think, what will she do next? As many of you know from news accounts, Mayon sent tons of volcanic mud, rocks and water barrelling down on homes below, killing hundreds in the path. Though I live much farther from the base of the volcano, the water and mud came tearing through my little neighborhood too, in a flashflood, carrying cars, refridgerators and rooftops before our eyes. But we, of course, were the lucky ones.
Just today, I went to visit the people of Padang. They have been relocated to a safer place now, but are living in a tent city with few latrines and no good potable water. The walls of their temporary shelters are made of tarp and their floors are mud. This, after surviving a massive lahar that wiped out their village and took with it more than 200 of their family members. In the days after the storm, myself and other Peace Corps volunteers went to Padang to help the people there. We met some new friends and became celebrities to the hundreds of kids there. After a short break, I returned to teaching at my local college but decided to visit the evacuees at their relocation site this morning. "I thought you had forgotten us," said one woman, as many came to say hello. I don't think I could ever forget them.
But it is hard to visit people you know are suffering and yet there is little you can do to help. Peace Corps as many of you know is not a relief organization and does not necessarily involve itself in relief work. For those of us affected by the typhoon, we are trying to do what we can to help. Thanks to those of you who contributed in December, we were able to give them a little cheer at Christmastime. With your generous donations, we gave each child a pair of flip-flops (tsinellas) and at T-shirt, plus some give-away toys. We also bought hundreds of household gifts and held a family Christmas raffle. One of our volunteers, Alvin, who is big and jolly, played Santa. We all had a lot of fun and it was good to see the kids laugh again.
I'm trying to think of a way to help, even if it's just to visit the kids and say hello and lend support. There is a great little new American relief group here now, Hands On, based out of Boston. It's a funky little group that just gives people a chance to volunteer all over the world when there is a disaster. They will be here for three months at least and I'm hoping I can work with them on helping out those in need here. Come join us! Or donate, if you can...
(UPDATE) PNP opens criminal probe into Campbell case
INQUIRER.net, Agence France-Presse
Last updated 09:39pm (Mla time) 04/18/2007
BAGUIO, Philippines -- Police launched a criminal investigation after a body believed to be that of a missing US Peace Corps worker was found partially buried in a shallow grave in the northern Philippines on Wednesday.
Julia Campbell, 40, had disappeared Easter Sunday while hiking a mountain trail, and the United States had earlier offered a $10,000 reward for information to help find her.
Campbell's body was discovered with her feet protruding from the ground in the northern village of Batad, a picturesque hamlet fringed with terraced mountainsides planted with rice.
No cause of death was announced, but regional police chief Superintendent Raul Gonzales said over local television that a "criminal investigation" had begun into the death.
He said the body "appears to have been intentionally buried," adding that her glasses had been recovered "several meters away from the body."
The body was exhumed late Wednesday and will be airlifted via helicopter from Ifugao province to Camp Crame police general headquarters in Manila for forensic examination on Thursday morning, said Colonel Victor Felix, chief of the Army's 502nd Infantry Battalion.
"Only after forensic examinations can the US embassy confirm if the remains are Campbell's," Felix said in a phone interview.
The US embassy had asked that the corpse not be retrieved until a forensics expert from Japan was flown to the site "to witness the exhumation of the body," Gonzales said.
He said "probable witnesses" would be summoned such as local residents and people who offered tourist services to Campbell. But he also appealed to more potential witnesses to come forward.
Local police spokesman Superintendent Joseph Adnol said they still did not have a motive for the killing but he would not discount robbery.
Police had earlier ruled out that Campbell, who had worked in the Philippines for two years and spoke the local language, had been kidnapped by communist guerrillas.
President Gloria Arroyo's chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Campbell's death "was very saddening but it would make everyone feel better if the cause was just a pure accident."
US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said he heard of the discovery of a body but would not confirm if it was Campbell's.
Earlier in a phone interview, Lussenhop said authorities, including American embassy and Peace Corps officials, were on the site where the body was found and were working to identify the body and the circumstances of the death.
“We have not confirmed that the body is Campbell’s. She was last seen in the area, hiking and talking to some residents,” he said.
Lussenhop said the American embassy and Peace Corps officials were working closely with the Philippine authorities “to make a determination” of the body’s identity.
He said Campbell’s parents have been told that a body has been found. “The Peace Corps has been in touch with the family from the search and have been apprised of all reports,” he said.
An 80-man multi-agency search team, composed of elements from the Philippine Army, the Philippine National Police (PNP), assisted by the US Embassy and Peace Corps and using tracker dogs and helicopters, started scouring the Ifugao mountains last Saturday.
Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir, provincial police chief, said by telephone on Tuesday that Campbell, wearing blue denim jeans, a black shirt and shawl, was last seen buying soda from a local store.
She was only wearing sandals and had bought a bus ticket to return to Manila by April 9, indicating she did not plan to extend her stay or make a long hike to a spot to view the area's famed mountainside rice terraces, he said.
Campbell is one of 137 Peace Corps volunteers currently in the Philippines. She had been teaching English at the Divine Word College in Albay province's Legazpi city, southeast of Manila, since October 2006. She previously taught at a public school in Donsol in nearby Sorsogon province, said Nora Gallano, assistant dean of Divine Word's College of Liberal Arts.
She was last seen late afternoon on April 8 hiking on a trail leading to Batad after she was driven to the trailhead. She also spoke to a couple of locals and bought a soft drink from a store along the way.
A search team from the Philippine Army's 502nd Infantry Brigade found the body of Julia Campbell in Battad village at around 10:30 a.m., but the cause of her death has yet to be determined, Major General Rodrigo Maclang, Army 5th Infantry Division chief, and Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, military spokesman, said Wednesday.
The grave was found in a grassy area beside a creek, said Colonel Victor Felix, commander of the Army's 502nd Infantry Brigade that led the search.
"The body appeared to have been hastily buried," Felix said in a phone interview.
Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Calderon has ruled out the involvement of communist rebels in Campbell's disappearance, and said that there was no indication that she was abducted by lawless elements or the communist New People's Army "because the area has been cleared of insurgents."
In 1990, the NPA seized Peace Corps volunteer Timothy Swanson and held him for 50 days on central Negros Island. He was later released unharmed.
In June that year, the US government ordered the evacuation of Peace Corps workers from the Philippines after receiving intelligence that rebels may try to kill or kidnap them. But by that time, Swanson already was in rebel hands.
The mountainous northern region is home to the Banaue rice terraces, a world-famous tourist spot. While communist rebels once plagued the area, the crime rate has remained low and attacks on foreigners are rare.
In 2002, a German diplomat and his wife were taken by gunmen from the area, and robbed of their belongings and money before they were released unharmed.
pero tayo talagang mga pinoy. ang dami-daming problema sa bansa bat siya ang ilalagay mo sa front page? ang daming mas may kwentang balita na pwedeng ilagay. yung kaguluhan sa sulu lalo na yung kakulangan sa relief good. 
