Tuesday, September 18, 2007 20 US Peace Corps assigned to Cordi
THE US Peace Corps has mobilized 100 new volunteers to the countryside with 20 of them stationed in the provinces of Cordillera except Ifugao and Mountain Province.
But the death of one of its volunteers during a vacation in Banaue, Ifugao last April had nothing to do with the noted absence of volunteers in the province, a volunteer clarified.
"It just happened that no one was sent there," the source said.
Most of the Cordillera-bound Peace Corps volunteers are based in Baguio and Benguet.
Banaue Mayor Lino Madchiw said even before Julia Campbell was killed in Battad, no Peace Corps volunteers were deployed in the province.
Ironically, Madchiw said, Campbell had even expressed interest in serving Banaue.
“But then this thing has to happen to her," he said in Ilocano.
Still, Banaue's tourism has not waned after the incident, Madchiw added.
He said the request of Campbell's mother, Linda, that a tourism information center be built in Battad, also noted for its breathtaking rice terraces, would not go unheeded.
Madchiw said they would soon put up a police outpost cum tourism information booth in the area. "It will be operating there even at night to assist tourists and residents."
Campbell was last seen on April 8 on her way to the Battad rice terraces. Her body was later found at a shallow grave near the terraces. Woodcarver Juan Duntugan admitted to have killed her but changed his mind when arraigned at a court in Ifugao's capital town Lagawe and entered a not guilty plea.
Funds for the outpost is already assured as the US$10,000 reward offered by the US government for information leading to Campbell’s killing was not redeemed.
Madchiw also said the police force in Banaue was reinforced to give more protection to tourists. From its usual 21, the PNP has added 28 more, he said. (RO)
