BY CRIS DIAZ
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy turned over 10 brand new “Fortuner”service utility vehicles for the local police at the City Hall ground here Wednesday morning.
The Fortuner SUVs (2022 edition) would be assigned as patrol cars for each of the 10 police stations of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO), as an edge in crime prevention campaign in the city of about 800,000 people.
In his short remarks during the turnover ceremony, Uy held tears as he reiterated his “personal” commitment to support the local police in the fight against criminality and the illegal drug trafficking here.
The teary-eyed city executive recalled the killing of his eldest son Sherwin “Tawi” Uy by unknown gunmen in the city’s outskirt village of Pagatpat on Nov. 11, 2021 that sent shock waves to the Uy family and the city residents here.
Uy was serving the Congressman of the City’s First District before he was elected Mayor of Cagayan de Oro in the 2022 Presidential and local elections while his son “Tawi” then served as village councilor of Carmen here.
“The killing of my son Tawi sent inexplicable pains to our family that I commit myself in the fight against all forms of criminality and prayed that the pain of losing a loved one shall never happen to any resident in the city,” Uy said.
Police arrested and filed a case against an alleged suspect who reportedly gunned down Tawi Uy.
In an interview with the Mindanao Daily News prior to his assumption as City Mayor, Uy made it clear that his administration would be in the frontline in the crime prevention campaign.
Aside from the 10-unit Fortuner service vehicles, Uy also turned over eight big bikes and 30 handheld radios for the city’s traffic division to assist in traffic enforcement primarily to ease traffic congestion. []
