A POLICE officer yesterday claimed that a rival of Mayor Ronaldo Aquino of Calbayog City, who was killed in an alleged shootout last March 8, had implicated the late mayor to illegal drug activities.
Police Master Sgt. Jose Jay Senario, formerly assigned with the Calbayog City Police Office as an intelligence officer, bared this during the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs conducting an inquiry into the killing of Aquino.
Senario said a certain “Mon-mon Uy” was behind the move to implicate Aquino to illegal drugs.
Samar 1st District Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, who was present in the hearing, said the Mon-mon Uy being referred to is Reymundo Uy, a former councilor of Calbayog City who ran as congressman against him during the 2016 elections. Sarmiento said Uy also ran for city mayor but lost to Aquino.
Senario said his disclosure during the Senate hearing was contained in an affidavit he had submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating Aquino’s death.
On the afternoon of March 8, Aquino and his three body guards were in a van on their way to his son’s birthday party when his group reportedly figured in a shootout with a police team from the Samar PDEU and PNP Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group in Laboyao Bridge, Barangay Lonoy, Calbayog City.
Killed were Aquino, two of his police aides, and two police officers identified as Police Capt. Joselito Tabada and Police Staff Sgt. Romeo Laoyon. Police Staff Sgt. Neil Cebu was wounded.
According to reports, the mayor’s escorts first fired at the police team after suspecting they were a group of criminals tailing the mayor’s convoy, which triggered the firefight.
The Eastern Visayas Police Regional Office has filed charges against the other policemen involved in the incident, including Col. Harry Sucayre, Major Cyril Tan, Lt. Julius Armesa, and Cpl. Edcil Omega.
During the Senate hearing, the PNP said it has also filed charges against Ronald Mark Aquino, son of the late Mayor Aquino, for his alleged involvement in the shooting.
Major Gen. Alfred Corpus, PNP director for operations, declined to give details on the younger Aquino’s alleged involvement, saying “It’s with the Prosecutors’ Office already. I’d rather not comment on it.”
Senario’s statements were later stricken off the records after it was pointed out by police legal officers that what he told the hearing was contained in his affidavit to the NBI.
