COTABATO CITY—Teachers at the Sultan Kudarat schools division of the Department of Education (DepEd) mourned the murder of their colleague on Saturday night in Lebak town as police tried to find his attackers.
Benharl Capote Kahil, 27, a teacher of Lebak Legislated National High School and an award winning editorial cartoonist, was believed to have been ambushed in Barangay Pasandalan of Lebak just as he was on his way home at about 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Kahil, who lived in Pasandalan, was the national winner of the third Pitik Bulag Tagisan Editorial Cartoon Contest held only last month.
Pitik Bulag earlier joined the #FactsFirstPH Initiative, a group committed to fight disinformation on social media, by doing it through visual arts, including cartoons and comic strips.
Lebak police chief Lt. Col. Julius Malcontento said they received an alert at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and arrived at the site to find Kahil’s motorcycle and body in an unlit dirt road surrounded by rice fields.
Malcontento said the police found the motorbike beside the road before they discovered the victim’s body, only a few meters away.
No suspect yet
“His death might have taken him away [from us] quickly but his love, contribution and memories will live forever in our hearts,” said DepEd Sultan Kudarat schools division head Leonardo Balala.
Malcontento said investigators have gathered statements from the victim’s family and coworkers.
But they have yet to pinpoint who were the culprits and the motive behind the killing, Malcontento told the Inquirer by phone on Monday.
Police said Kahil, 27, was alone when attacked. He sustained eight bullet wounds to the head and in the body from a 9mm pistol. Scene of the crime investigators also recovered nine empty shells from a 9mm pistol, including the one that was found the morning after the killing.
Malcontento said responding police personnel rushed the victim to the hospital but Kahil was already pronounced dead by physicians.
Aside from being a Licensed Professional Teacher, Kahil was known as a school paper cartoonist and was the coordinator of the special program in the arts at Lebak Legislated National High School. INQ