CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 20 November) – Barangay councilor Roland “Tawee” Sherwin Uy, the eldest son of 1st district Representative and mayoralty candidate Rolando Uy, was laid to rest Saturday morning at the Oro Garden Memorial Park in Barangay Lumbia.
“We love you anak. Good bye,”,the grieving Uy said at the end of his eulogy.
Rep. Rolando Uy comforts the wife of his slain son, Roland Sherwin, during the interment rites at the Oro Garden Memorial Park in Cagayan de Oro on Saturday, 20 November 2021. Roland Sherwin was the eldest son of Uy, who is running for Mayor of Cagayan de Oro. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
The 67-year-old Congressmen told his political supporters who gathered at the memorial park that the murder of his eldest son Tawee and caretaker Samuel Pabalan, have shaken their family.
“Tawee was not a perfect human being but he was a good son, a good brother to us,” said Uy who broke down several times as he read his three-page eulogy.
“We cannot accept that he was brutally slain,” he said of his son, a councilor of Barangay Carmen.
Tawee and Pabalan were gunned down by two unidentified men in their family-owned quarry in Barangay Pagatpat on November 9.
Police are not discounting the possibility that the killing of the 45-year-old Uy was politically motivated, The elder Uy is the frontrunner in the mayoralty race here.
Pabalan was buried last Wednesday in another private cemetery, radio reports said.
“We cannot see the reason why my son had to be mercilessly killed,” Uy said.
Supporters of the Uy family in Cagayan de Oro City pass by a bus with tarpaulin displayed seeking justice for Roland Sherwin Uy and Samuel Pabalan who were killed by gunmen last week. Uy’s remains were buried on Saturday, 20 November 2021 at the Oro Garden Memorial Park in Cagayan de Oro on Saturday, 20 November 2021. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
He said they trust the Philippine National Police would arrest and bring the killers to justice.
His other son, Vice Mayor Rainer Joaquin Uy, said his family and friends are offering a P14 million bounty for the arrest of the killers.
Cagayan de Oro police spokesperson Major Evan Viñas said investigators have come up with cartographic sketches of the two gunmen after a new witness came forward.
Viñas said the witness told police he saw the suspects come in a grey Nissan Almera car.
He said a CCTV camera from a nearby establishment was also able to record who were the occupants of the car.
“We suspect that the car brought the gunmen to Barangay Pagatpat where they transferred to a waiting motorcycle,” Viñas said.
The killing of barangay councilor Uy shocked residents here who fear this could be the beginning of a new era of electoral violence in the city. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
