05 May 2005
Klein Cantoneros
Shooting
A radio broadcaster known for denouncing corruption died today after being shot as many as seven times by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Dipolog City on the southern island of Mindanao.
Klein Cantoneros, 32, who frequently criticized local officials for alleged corruption and illegal gambling on his talk radio programme on DXAA-FM, was returning home around 1.30 a.m. local when he was attacked by as many as three gunmen, according to local news reports.
Cantoneros was clutching his own .45-calibre pistol when he was found, and he appeared to have fired back at his attackers, according to ABS-CBN, quoting police. Cantoneros' colleague, Robert Baguio, told radio DZBB that the journalist identified his assailants before undergoing surgery, according to Inquirer News Service. Cantoneros' colleagues told reporters that the journalist had received several death threats, some by cell-phone text message, ABS-CBN reported.
The journalist's murder comes just days after another radio broadcaster, Nestor Seguismundo of DZXE's Radyo Tirador in Ilocos Sur in the central Philippines, survived an apparent assassination attempt. Seguismundo, whose hard-hitting broadcasts have criticized provincial authorities, sustained a gunshot wound to his stomach on 29 April.
