South Cotabato newsman survives stabbing

KORONADAL CITY – The South Cotabato bureau chief of the Mindanao Bulletin, a weekly newspaper based in nearby General Santos City, survived a slay attempt here Tuesday night.

Police said Dimas Taborete, 34, provincial bureau chief of Mindanao Bulletin, owned and managed by the Jubelag family of General Santos City, was stabbed with an eight-inch, double-bladed knife by a still unidentified attacker inside a tricycle at around 8:30 p.m. at a dimly lit portion of Morales Avenue here.

Witnesses said Taborete’s attacker tried to stab him again but he was able to parry the blow. The man then hastily fled.

Taborete, a director of the Region 12 PNP Press Corps, was wounded in the lower left armpit.

A relative, who rushed to the hospital after learning about the incident, told The STAR that Taborete was with two companions when he was attacked.

“He (Taborete) was already inside the tricycle when the (man) chased and stabbed him,” said Bienvenido Legarta, Taborete’s first cousin.

The attempt on Taborete’s life was the first attack on a media practitioner here.

Taborete has reportedly not received any death threats since he was designated as South Cotabato bureau chief of Mindanao Bulletin.

In a long-distance interview, Jeffrey Jubelag, president of the Region 12 PNP Press Corps, urged the Koronadal City police to speed up the investigation into the attack.