By Lynde Salgados
Correspondent

CONGRESSMAN Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy of the Cagayan de Oro first district this morning admitted that he’s fully aware that his name had been dragged into the grenade-lobbing involving the ancestral house of Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez in Barangay Nazareth, Cagayan de Oro on September 29.

“Yes, I was aware that my name was implicated in the grenade throwing that did not explode. But I won’t comment on this as we trust our police investigators to handle this matter,” said Uy over Magnum Radio.

Uy, however, said he was happy that Rufus, whom he called as “partner,” had put up a P300,000 bounty that may lead to the identification and the arrest of the motorcycle-riding men who hurled a World War II-type Mk 2 grenade at the garage of the Rodriguezes’ at past midnight last Wednesday.

Uy said he’s also willing to come up with the same amount of P300,000 if only to speed up the investigation and arrest those responsible for the incident.

“It’s not my family’s attitude to resort to any wrongful doings especially in this time of the political season where political mudslinging can easily be done,” Uy said.

Later, in a separate interview over the same radio station, Padayon Pilipino mayoral bet Pompee La Viña said Uy’s willingness to come up with additional reward is a welcome development, though he added something quite intriguing.

La Viña said that Cagayan de Oro should not allow the nature of violence in Ozamiz to ever happen in the City of Gold.

“Dili pwede kanang palooy-looy nga maghatag dugang reward sa kaugalingong bulsa. Ang ato nga masulbad ang krimen nga dili maparehas ang atong syudad sa Ozamiz bisan pa man siya (Uy) taga Ozamiz. Wala ko mag-ingon nga involved siya sa maong insidente,” said La Viña.

Both Uy and La Viña had earlier revealed their plans to vie for the city’s mayoral seat in the May 2022 plebiscites.

Before the grenade throwing, Rufus had made it known before the public that he was consulting his political circle and local supporters about running for mayor again in Cagayan de Oro.

Last week, Cagayan de Oro police chief Colonel Aaron Mandia said he was personally taking the lead in investigating the incident. He said it was too early to say if the attack was election-related.

“We are still determining what really happened and what the motive was. At this point, we cannot conclude that it was election-related,” Mandia said.

Police said they have yet to identify a suspect as of this posting.

“Investigators are not discounting anything, and we are not ruling out that possibility that it had something to do with politics,” said Major Ivan Viñas, Cocpo spokesman.

But Viñas said investigators were puzzled because the grenade’s safety lever was still intact, and none of the Rodriguezes were at home at that time.

Mandia also noted that one of the guards picked up the grenade before investigators arrived at the crime scene.

“That was really dangerous. In situations like that, you immediately call the police,” he said. (With reports from Herbie Gomez)