100ARAW.com

Gunmen shot dead a journalist on July 3 and an activist on July 5 — producing two “firsts” under President Aquino.

The victims were:

• Jose Daguio, a radio broadcaster, in Tabuk town, Kalinga province
• Fernando Baldomero, a town councilor and provincial leader of the political party Bayan Muna

Daguio and Baldomero are now known as the first journalist and activist, respectively, to be murdered under Aquino.

Even prior to his inaugural last June 30, Aquino had been asked by human rights groups Amnesty International and Karapatan to order a complete stop to extrajudicial killings and to have slays of journalists and activists under former President Arroyo to be investigated and prosecuted.

Aquino himself was a victim of a similar act of violence. In 1983, assassins killed his father, then-opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., as he arrived in Manila from exile in the United States.