BAYAN-EV seeks justice for Uy and remembers him as true people’s servant

Press Release
May 16, 2011

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Eastern Visayas (BAYAN-EV), an alliance of various progressive and patriotic organizations in the region, is “deeply saddened over the killing of Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy, a true people’s servant and recognized front-liner for the people’s agenda,” said Mr. Flor “Pong” Acbo, Regional Chairperson of BAYAN-EV. In behalf of its organizations and members, BAYAN EV extends its “most sincere condolences to the bereaved family of Mayor Uy and unites with them in the call for justice.”

“We cannot agree less that his untimely demise is indeed a loss to the people of Samar,” said Acbo. His killing is viewed by BAYAN as the “persistence of the decade-long culture of impunity, thus BAYAN calls on the people to break this culture and continue Uy’s advocacy for staunch defense of people’s rights.” Acbo also urged the people to “follow his example in choosing to side with the people’s interest and supporting their struggle for human rights promotion, social justice and long-lasting peace.”

Acbo said in his account that Mayor Uy started out as a physician who mainly served the peasants of Samar in the 1980’s. He actively resisted Martial Rule under Marcos and immediately after the dictator’s ouster, Uy served as the officer-in-charge Vice Mayor of Calbayog. He later joined the progressive party Partido ng Bayan and won for his first seat in Samar. According to Acbo, “one of the notable acts which BAYAN would always remember him for is when he, himself, led the expulsion of then Major General Jovito Palparan from the Eastern Visayas region amidst successive killings and violations of human rights. It happened when Palparan was Commanding Officer of the 8th Infantry Division.”

Acbo recalls that “Mayor Uy, a congressman then, saw how the number of extrajudicial killings in the region rose drastically and how the people of Samar, his constituents, were threatened by the terror spread by “the butcher.” At the peak of anti-Palparan actions launched in the region, Uy allied together with BAYAN and other concerned personalities for the immediate eviction of Palparan. “He was not scared for the possible threat that going against the military will risk even his life. What was important for Uy and notable of him was, despite the widespread killings and abductions then, he listened and acted on the call of the people of Samar,” said Acbo.