Calbayog mayor shot dead

CALBAYOG City mayor Reynaldo Uy was shot dead while attending a cultural program marking the eve of the town fiesta of Hinabangan, Samar on Saturday night (April 30), a report to the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame said yesterday.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz said Uy died while being treated at St. Paul’s Hospital around 1 a.m. Sunday, more than four hours after he was attacked.

President Aquino yesterday ordered both the PNP and the AFP to clamp down on violence in the province following Uy’s killing.

Uy was a partymate of the President’s in the Liberal Party.

"I pressed (PNP chief) Raul Bacalzo to ensure a speedy investigation the arrest of the people behind this dastardly act. You know, they were shot, I understand, while their heads were bowed in an invocation. Talagang iyon treachery. Ang bigat pero we don’t want this violence to be a precursor of even more violence so I can assure the people in the province of Rey Uy, the police together with the Armed Forces will exert maximum efforts to ensure that the violence will be clamped down and there will be no untoward incidence and violence," Aquino said.

Citing a report from the PNP Region 13 director Chief Supt. Arnold Rayala Revilla, PNP spokesman Cruz said Special Investigation Force Uy, headed by deputy regional director for operations Senior Supt. Edgar Basbas, has been formed "to spearhead and facilitate the investigation and resolution of the case."

Uy, 59, was sitting at the presidential table with other mayors and officials from Samar when he was shot and hit in the left side of the body by a lone gunman. Provincial board member Eunice Babalcon seated beside him was injured in the right arm.

Before his death, Uy was supporting a move by Samar residents and local officials for the recall of Samar governor Sharee An Tan-delos Santos and her brother Vice Gov. Stephen Tan. Uy had said he would run for governor if the recall succeeds and an election is called.

While serving as a congressman in 2004, Uy was convicted by the Sandiganbayan on two counts of nepotism for appointing a niece and a nephew as the city’s health and agricultural officers, respectively, in 1992 during an earlier stint as Calbayog mayor.

In 2006, he was given a presidential pardon by President Gloria Arroyo, restoring his full civil and political rights. He initially supported attempts to impeach Arroyo but switched sides after being granted the reprieve, calling the impeachment complaint rehashed and mere harassment against Arroyo.

– Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor