Samar board member survives another slay attempt

CATBALOGAN CITY, Philippines – A provincial board member of Samar survived another attempt on her life last Tuesday.

“Friends, I am ok. ALIVE. Ambushed yesterday (Tuesday) at Jiabong Samar. Thanks so much Jiabong police. Everything is with SOCO now,” board member Alma Lampasa-Uy posted on her Facebook page, along with pictures of her vehicle’s window with bullet holes. 

Uy, a former judge who is married to another judge, was waylaid in Barangay Jia-an, Jiabong town, 11 kilometers west of this Samar capital. 

“I am the luckiest girl in the world right now,” she added in her Facebook post.

Uy told The STAR that it was the second attempt on her life, as she also survived an ambush in 2013 while trying to reach remote communities.

Uy believes the attack is politically motivated, saying she recently confronted her colleagues allegedly asking about her schedules and whereabouts and that she had this entered into police records. 

Uy, a member of the Liberal Party, is the only “opposition” member of the Samar provincial board and has allegedly earned the enmity of her colleagues for questioning what she described as questionable budget proposals and realignments.

In her recent attendance to a board session, she alleged she was “cursed and humiliated” by her colleagues and was not allowed to speak out against the transactions that she questioned.

“There was a time when I had to beg just to speak for only one sentence,” she alleged.

Samar-based and US-based netizens have condemned violent incidents in the province and have appealed to authorities to speed up investigations and beef up security.