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KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 01 December) – The station manager of Radyo Ni Juan in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat who was shot by still unidentified armed men while waiting for a ride outside his residence in Tacurong City on October 30, succumbed to pneumonia Sunday dawn.
Benjie Caballero, also member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Kidapawan chapter and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP). was shot five times in different parts of his body on October 30.
He was rushed immediately to the St. Louis Hospital, also in Tacurong City, where he underwent surgical operation in to remove the two bullets that got embedded in his lungs.
After the surgery, he stayed at the hospital’s intensive care unit and was transferred to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City on November 30 but expired at around 3:23 a.m. on Sunday, December 1, his younger brother, Abdullah, said.
Caballero, according to some of his friends in media, was a hard-hitting radio commentator and had hit a number of individuals holding posts in the government in his public affairs program over Radyo Ni Juan FM.
Investigators have yet to say who shot Caballero.
Caballero, a Muslim, will be buried following Islamic rites in his hometown in M’lang, Cotabato, on Sunday. (Malu Cadelina-Manar / MindaNews)