Seven months after mayor’s killing, PNP lifts gun ban

Police authorities have lifted the gun ban in Samar due to “improved peace and order” since the killing of Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy in May.

Hours after Uy was gunned down inside a covered court in Hinabangan town, the gun ban was imposed to avoid a possible escalation of violence in the province. Police, however, have yet to arrest the triggerman and his lookout, as well as to file a criminal case in court.

Senior Superintendent Elizar Egloso, police regional information officer, said there had been no reported major incidents related to Uy’s killing and no seizure of unlicensed firearms during the seven-month ban.

Chief Superintendent Arnold Revilla, police regional director, signed the order lifting the ban. He, however, directed all police units in Samar to remain vigilant and continue manning checkpoints, beat and mobile patrol, and “other police interventions to control the proliferation of loose firearms and to prevent further senseless killings.”

Uy’s family, together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, have offered a P2-million reward for those who could give information that would lead to the arrest of the killers.

The lifting of the gun ban came at a time when the Commission on Elections in the province is verifying signatures of more than 73,000 voters in the petition to recall Governor Sharee Ann Tan and her younger brother, Vice Governor Stephen James Tan. Uy, an ally of President Aquino, was a political rival of the Tans. Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas