CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A reward of P4 million is up to anyone who can point to the identity of the individuals who shot to death the eldest son of mayoralty aspirant and 1st District Rep. Rolando Uy, a city government official said Tuesday, November 16.
Roland Sherwin Uy, 45, a Barangay Carmen council member, was gunned down by motorcycle-riding suspects at the quarry site he operated in Barangay Pagatpat, this city, on November 11.
Also slain was Uy’s employee Samuel Pabalan. Both victims were killed on the spot.
City Councilor Enrico Salcedo, acting spokesperson for the Uy family, said as of Tuesday afternoon, the bounty has reached P4 million but it could go higher as business owners are expected to donate money to ensure the identity and capture of the younger Uy’s killer.
Early this week, City Mayor Oscar Moreno, Uy’s political ally, pledged P2 million from the city government’s coffers to reward informants.
Moreno said the perpetrators, together with the mastermind of the killings, “must be held to account for these dastardly acts.”
A day after the mayor pledged the P2M reward, the Uy family offered another of P2 million in addition to the city government’s reward money.
The victim’s brother, Vice Mayor Rainier Joaquin Uy, said his family has never considered on hiring security personnel for their protection.
“We don’t need protection. We are just plain citizens. My brother did not even have a weapon on him,” the vice mayor said, adding that after what happened, they are now considering on requesting for armed body guards for their safety and security.
Meanwhile, Salcedo has appealed to law enforcement authorities to expand the scope of their investigation.
“I am asking the Philippine National Police to widen the investigation because we have reason to believe that politics is involved in this,” Salcedo told reporters during a hastily called press conference at the mortuary where the younger Uy’s body is lying in state.
He said it’s possible that following the son’s death, a political group could be plotting against Uy.
Without naming any political party in particular, Salcedo said these opponents are local and well-established.
“I won’t divulge their name but they are big time politicians in the city who is supporting Zaldy Ocon,” he said, referring to his colleague in the city council.
Ocon, who has been attacking the Uy on his radio show, has accused the congressman of being on the list of alleged drug lords.
Ocon and Uy used to be political allies, but just recently the former began throwing allegations against the mayoralty candidate.
According to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Northern Mindanao, Uy is not on the so-called “narco-list,” a matrix of personalities, most of them politicians alleged to be involved in the drug trade.
In interviews, Jigger Montallana, PDEA-10 regional director, said that Uy is not their list.
“President Duterte has released the list, and if his name is not there, then it’s not in ours either since the President and PDEA are in a possession of the same list,” Montallana said.
He said PDEA is a very professional agency and that they treat any information seriously.
“We have a process of validation, so if there is a report, the PDEA will validate it with members of the interagency task force in the region,” he added.
