Broadcaster in slay try dies

DAVAO CITY — The broadcaster who sustained multiple gunshot wounds in a slay try last 30 October in Tacurong City died in a hospital here on Sunday morning.

A month after the slay try, Benjie Caballero of Radyo ni Juan FM station based in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, passed away at past 3 a.m. Sunday while being treated at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

Gina Caballero, sister of the radioman, confirmed that his brother died due to pneumonia.

Caballero was first confined at the St. Louis Hospital in Tacurong City but was transferred to SPMC for further treatment.

Caballero was immediately buried by his relatives in Barangay Inas, M’lang, North Cotabato, keeping the Islamic tradition of burying the dead within 24 hours from the time of his death.

An unidentified gunman shot and critically injured Caballero while waiting for a ride to his work in front of his home last October 30.

He was shot five times in his chest and body by the gunman, who used a .45-caliber pistol.

He was immediately brought to St. Louis Hospital and was earlier reported that two bullets pierced through his lungs.

Caballero is the president of the Sultan Kudarat provincial task force on media security.

The print and broadcast journalists’ organization in Central

Mindanao expressed their sorrow over Caballero’s passing through a Facebook post.

It stated that they are “mourning his demise due to a gruesome atrocity that they condemned early on.”

Last 22 November, Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) Executive Director Undersecretary Joel Egco personally paid a visit to the hospital where Caballero was recuperating.

Ecgo vowed “to be relentless,” saying “not giving dignity to the noisy evil propagandists who call dedicated government servants ‘apologists’.”

He vowed to seek justice for what happened to Caballero and said that they will help to identify the ‘cowards’ who shot him.