Journalist shot dead; 1st under new government

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – A 75-year-old radio commentator was shot dead in his home in Tabuk City over the weekend, the first journalist murdered during the Aquino administration.

Police said a lone gunman attacked Jose Daguio, reporter and commentator of Radyo Natin and columnist of a community newspaper. Daguio succumbed to multiple injuries while being treated at the provincial hospital.

Police investigators led by Jose Calendario said the gunman entered Daguio’s house in Barangay Tuga in the city on Saturday night and shot the victim at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun.

“We are still investigating the case as to the identity of the suspect and possible motives behind the killing,” Calendario said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said they were waiting for the local police report on the murder.

Daguio was the first journalist to be killed under the five-day-old Aquino administration, and possibly the oldest to be slain in the line of duty.

More than 100 journalists were killed in the country during the nine-year administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The killings of journalists were among the issues expected to be addressed by President Aquino.

Alarmed by the increasing number of journalists getting murdered, Arroyo ordered the PNP to form Task Force Usig to address media killings.

The task force said they have received 76 cases of reported attacks against members of the media. As it turned out, only 39 cases were confirmed to be work-related while 30 others were personal and seven were not directed at legitimate members of the media.

Of the 39 work-related attacks, 33 of them had been prosecuted, with four convictions and six still pending investigation.

The attack on Daguio came after another journalist, Jerome Tabanganay survived an attacked by unidentified men on May 15.

Tabanganay was about to report for work for the state-owned dzRK Radyo ng Bayan in Tabuk when unidentified gunmen shot him.

Tabanganay managed to survive the attack by running inside the radio station even after sustaining gunshot wounds on his right leg and knee.

International groups had ranked the Philippines among the high-risk countries for journalists. –Charlie Lagasca (The Philippine Star) with Cecille Suerte Felipe