GenSan radio reporter dies

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A broadcaster who was shot by the aide of world boxing champ Manny Pacquiao has expired yesterday morning after he underwent a surgical operation for a gunshot wound in the head.

Jonathan Abayon, 27, of dxBB- RGMA’s Super Radyo was declared clinically dead by Dr. Genaro Valencia at about 11:45 a.m. while being treated inside the intensive care unit of Doctor’s Hospital here.

The broadcaster’s death happened as his colleagues were offering a Mass at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Church for his immediate recovery.

"Yon pala patay na si Mr. Suave ng Gensan (We’ve just learned that Mr. Suave was already dead)," Arnel Arsolon, a colleague of the fallen broadcaster, said.

Lea Abayon, the victim’s wife, said attending doctors had earlier told her that only a miracle could save her husband’s life.

"The members of our family had given up hope that he'll be saved because of his deteriorating condition", she said.

Abayon was shot by William Bael, a former Army sergeant who served as Pacquiao’s bodyguard, following a misunderstanding at dawn on Sunday in Barangay Labangal here. He sustained a bullet wound on the head.

The victim and the suspect had just left the house of Pacquiao after a drinking spree when the shooting took place.

The driver of the vehicle, Gonzalo Lopez, told police that Bael, who was seated in the back, shot the victim who was sitting in the front seat following a heated altercation.

Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police director, said a case of murder has been filed against the suspect, who had gone into hiding after the incident.

Dangane said he had issued a 36-hour ultimatum for the suspect to surrender otherwise a "shoot-to-kill" order will be issued for him.

"I hope he will surrender peacefully," Dangane said.

Lea asked the police to effect the immediate arrest of Bael and give justice to the killing of her husband.

"I want him (suspect) jailed," she said, adding that Pacquiao should initiate moves to turn in the suspect to the authorities to erase doubts that he was harboring the suspect.

It was the second time that Pacquiao was placed in a spot over the apparent high-handedness of his bodyguards.

In 2001, Ruben Madidis, Pacquiao’s uncle and bodyguard, shot and killed a man who had stabbed dead his son.

Chris Guarin, dxBB station manager, asked for a deeper investigation into the incident to determine whether the killing of Abayon was a set up.

Investigation showed that the suspect threatened to inflict harm on the victim after they engaged in a heated discussion while having a drinking spree inside the house of Pacquiao.

Last year, Pacquiao and his bodyguards tried to confront Abayon while the latter was criticizing in his radio program the boxer’s involvement in a melee in a local club.