Police arrest suspected gunman in murder of Cagayan de Oro mayor’s son

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Police arrested a suspect in the 2021 killing of the eldest son of Cagayan de Oro Mayor Rolando Uy in a secluded village in Lanao del Norte on Saturday, July 30.

Authorities identified the suspect as 59-year-old Edgardo Gaabucayan who, they said, used to be a member of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) dreaded liquidation squad, the Sparrow Unit.

Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Olaivar, police spokesperson for Northern Mindanao, said Gaabucayan was arrested in his house in Purok 6, Barangay Cabasagan, Lala town in Lanao del Norte.

Police said Gaabucayan was arrested based on a warrant issued by Judge Emmanuel Pasal of the Regional Trial Court Branch 38 in Cagayan de Oro City.

A photo posted on the One Mindanao Facebook page, showed Gaabucayan with a cane while a policeman in plain clothes read him court documents.

Mayor Uy, who was still the representative of Cagayan de Oro’s 1st District when his son was murdered, has yet to issue a statement on the arrest of Gaabucayan, but his family had offered a P12-million reward for the arrest of the killers of his 45-year-old son, Roland Sherwin “Tawie” Uy.

Tawie, a councilor of Carmen, Cagayan de Oro’s most populous barangay, was shot dead while he was resting in a quarry site in Zone 1, Barangay Pagatpat in eastern Cagayan de Oro on November 11, 2021.

The gunmen also killed the younger Uy’s aide, Samuel Pabalan.

Cagayan de Oro City Police Office spokesperson Major Evan Viñas said a police team worked for months to track down Gaabucayan at his house in Lanao del Norte, two provinces away from Cagayan de Oro.

Police have yet to release details, but Viñas said investigators determined that the younger Uy was killed as a result of a personal grudge, with his aide Pabalan merely a “collateral victim.” – Rappler.com