Family says it's politically motivated

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines - "It`s a highly planned and politically motivated murder done by a corrupted criminal who hide in his or her mother`s skirt, as what our dialect would call as "talawan" or coward.

This was part of the official statement aired to the local media Monday night by the bereaved family of Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy who was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman during the vesper's day of the Hinabangan town fiesta in Samar Saturday evening, April 30.  

The official statement was read by Uy`s eldest daughter Rosa Jessica Delgado at the St. Peter Funeral Homes in this city, a day before the mayor's remains was brought to his hometown in Calbayog City.

Delgado, in the statement, said that "her father's political legacy to change Samar was the main reason why he was assassinated. Our Dad was a good leader, he believed in change and reform. Most politicians would say the same line but the people of Samar believed that my father already made it happen."

The mayor's daughter did not talk about any pertinent details on the killing saying that the family will just wait for the official results of the investigation now conducted by the PNP Task Force Uy.

"His death is not the end, but the beginning of a new journey. His death will also serve as an instrument to unite all Samareños for one great purpose: To change Samar and make it known nationally as a loving and beautiful place not the feared province ravaged by political killings during elections," Delgado said.

At about 7 a.m. yesterday, the remains of Uy was transported to Calbayog City, accompanied by a convoy of hundreds of supporters with some sympathizers putting up placards along the national highway declaring their support for the mayor's advocacy for a united Samar province.

A day after the assassination of the city mayor, Samar Governor Sharee-Ann Tan Delos Santos, in a radio interview on Sunday, belied insinuations that she and her family were behind the killing for political reasons.

Delos Santos, a daughter of former governor and now representative of Samar's 2nd district, declared that it was never her family's act to resort to any violence against political rivals, and that her respect for the mayor remains intact to this day.

"I would like to tell my fellow Samareños that we have no knowledge about the killing. We have differences in our political beliefs but we cannot afford to resort to violence against a person whom I respect so much. We have been in the same political party when I first run for Congress in 2004; unfortunately we parted ways but it was part of politics," said the governor.

Delos Santos said she already asked Police Regional Office-8 director Chief Supt. Arnold Revilla to fasttract the investigation that would identify and arrest the perpetrators so that her name and that of her family will also be cleared. "We want this case be resolved immediately, so truth will come out on who are responsible in this killing," she said.

Revilla earlier said he was not discounting the possibility that the killing of Uy has something to do with politics considering that he led a recall petition against the governor.

The governor however said the recall petition was not enough to convince her and her family to kill any one. She assured any investigating agency of her cooperation at any time in the investigation.

Delos Santos admitted that, on Saturday afternoon, she was also in Hinabangan town for the rice and Philhealth distribution to five barangays. She said she was even invited by some of her political leaders in the area to attend the town fiesta dance but she politely declined.

The wake for the mayor is now held in Calbayog City where thousand of political supporters wearing yellow shirts and ribbons came to pay their respects.

Representative Mel Senen Sarmiento (1st district, Samar) lamented over what he termed as a tragedy in the city. He said he lost a friend and a political partner who had been pursuing development of the province to improve the lives of the constituents. He asked the officials of the police and the NBI to work to resolve the case so that justice for the mayor will be served the soonest possible time.

According to Revilla, there are now two eyewitnesses in custody of the PRO-8 for further investigation. He hoped that an artist's sketch of the gunman would be completed, leading to the identification of the perpetrators. "We are optimistic to finish the investigation, of course with the cooperation of the witnesses," he said. — with reports from Miriam Garcia Desacada (FREEMAN)