AUTHORITIES are now looking into a person of interest ― a quarry contractor whom Mayor Rolando Uy’s son had an altercation with last September.
This, as the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, has discounted that the twin murders last year were politically motivated.
City Police Director Col. Aaron Mandia said they also established the motive as a personal grudge and are still investigating the reported involvement of a contractor.
“The killing of Sherwin was a personal grudge not politically motivated,” Mandia said dismissing speculations that it had something to do with (the) recently concluded May elections.
“In 2018, Tawee had told me and his mother that he (had) an altercation with a certain contractor whom he fired due to several complaints from the people (in the area),” the mayor told reporters in a press conference held at Cocpo headquarters yesterday.
Roland ‘Tawee’ Sherwin Uy, 45, a barangay official of Carmen, was shot and killed by gunmen in the family-owned quarry in Barangay Pagatpat in November, last year. The gunmen also killed his employee, Samuel Pabalan, who was with the victim.
Mandia added that police investigators have already identified the second gunman who was tagged as the one who shot the younger Uy.
Mandia said his office is just waiting for the warrant of arrest to be issued against the suspect, adding that they will continue the investigation until all the suspects are arrested and tried, and then convicted in court.
In an interview three days after the twin murders, Cocpo spokesman Maj. Evan Viñas said investigators came to a conclusion that there were two gunmen when they found two different shells and bullets from the crime scene on November 11, last year.
Yesterday, Cocpo presented one of the alleged gunman, the frail-looking 59-year-old Edgardo Gaabucayan. Police brought Gaabucayan to Cagayan de Oro after they arrested him in his house in Purok 6, Barangay Cabasagan, Lala town in Lanao del Norte last Saturday.
After the briefing, Uy said he believed the suspect arrested by the police for the killing of his son, Roland Sherwin, was not a “fall guy.”
“I (believe) this is one of the (people) who killed my son. I saw the evidence and video that implicated him,” Uy told reporters on Monday.
Gabucayan did not talk to reporters and only claimed to the police that he was an alleged former member of the New People Army’s dreaded urban partisan liquidation squad ― the Sparrow unit.
Uy told reporters he did not meet and talked with Gaabucayan, who is presently detained at the Maharlika police detention cell.
Maj. Gerson Estanilla, commander of the Bulua police station said they still looking for a second gunman who shot and killed Roland Sherwin.
Estanilla said Gaabucayan was the one who shot 75-year-old Pabalan, the caretaker of the Uy family quarry site in Zone 1, Barangay Pagatpat, this city.
“We are still looking for the second gunman who we find it hard to find because there (is) no witness who saw him,” Estanilla said.
Estanilla said a witness, a dump truck driver, was able to identify Gaabucayan and saw him gunned down Pabalan.
He said the witness was confident of the identity of Gaabucayan who even helped him find a parking space for the dump truck he was driving.
“Una, gipakita namo ang facial composite ni Gaabucayan ngadto sa witness ug kini iyang gikonpirma. Para masuta gyud namo nga mao gyud ang suspek, amo na gyung gidala ang mao gihapong witness ngadto sa lugar kung diin nagpuyo ang nahauna ug mao gihapon gikorpirma gihapon niya busa gisunod namo ang pagdakop kaniya,” Estanilla said.
As for the reward money their family offered, Uy said they will release it as soon as he is satisfied that justice has been achieved.
“Naa gihapon ang maong ganti nga atong gitagana, pero ipa-agi nato sa korte. Once naa nay hukom, usa na nako ihatag,” Uy said.
When asked if he is angry with Gaabucayan, Uy replied he is not, but he just wants that justice will be served against whoever the responsible.
“I do not feel any hatred against him. I leave the investigation to the police. I trust them to bring the killers of my son to justice,” Uy said. (With reports from Joey P. Nacalaban)
