8 Aramismis St.

, Veterans Village, Project 7, Quezon City 1105

e-mail: koalisyongmakabayan@gmail.com
telefax: (+63) (2) 411-0026
website: www.makabayan.net

Tribute to Honorable Reynaldo S. Uy, M.D.

The MAKABAYAN Coalition pays the highest tribute to Reynaldo S. Uy, doctor of the people,
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) leader, three-term congressman, and Mayor of Calbayog
City.

As a medical doctor, Rey Uy followed the path of Dr. Remberto "Bobby" de la Paz in serving the
impoverished people of Samar. For his dedicated work, Bobby was shot dead by minions of the Marcos
dictatorship in 1982. Rey was similarly shot dead, ironically, after decades of reinstalled formal
democracy.

After the fascist regime was ousted in 1986, then President Corazon C. Aquino appointed Rey as
officer-in-charge of Calbayog. In the subsequent elections he was elected vice mayor, then mayor. He
served his constituents well.

Rey was elected representative of the first district of Samar for three successive terms, from 2001 to
2010. In the House of Representatives he consistently took a principled stand in support of our
progressive party-list bloc's key advocacies, particularly exposing, denouncing and investigating the
spate of extrajudicial killlings, enforced disappearances and other forms of human rights violations
attributed mainly to the military.

Rep. Uy courageously stood up against Gloria M. Arroyo's henchman and favorite general, Jovito
Palparan Jr., both when the latter led a bloody counterinsurgency campaign in Samar-Leyte and when
he became a party-list representative in the 14th Congress. After Palparan delivered a privilege speech
falsely accusing him of having ordered the killing of certain persons in Samar, Rep. Uy presented the
living persons in the House gallery and delivered a stinging rebuke of the retired general.

He said,

Ang magbuhos ng dugo para sa bayan

Ay kagitingang hindi malilimutan.

It is truly saddening, indeed enraging, that the extrajudicial killings have continued under the present
administration -- and Rey Uy has become the latest victim.

In his name and of all the other victim-martyrs before him, we vow to continue fighting for justice for
all victims of human rights violations. We shall unrelentingly pursue what they died for: freedom,
justice, democracy, and genuine, lasting peace.

We shall ever remember and cherish their lives, their work, their sacrifices for the people.