Two election officials have been killed in two days in Mindanao provinces

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia calls the killings ‘an attack on democracy itself’

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines — In the span of two days, two Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials stationed in volatile towns in Mindanao were gunned down, adding a chilling dimension to deep-seated local political tensions.

Mark Orlando Vallecer II, the acting election official of the city of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte, and Janeco Allan Dionaldo Pandoy, an election assistant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, were targeted in what police described as calculated attacks by as yet unknown assailants.

In a statement, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the killings were not just crimes against public officials but “an attack on democracy itself.”

“Violence will not deter us, and those who try to harm democracy will face the full force of the law,” Garcia said.

Two armed men riding together on a motorcycle shot at Vallecer while driving a red car as it slowed down on a rough stretch of road in Barangay Curva Miagao, Salvador, Lanao del Norte at 2:19 p.m. on Monday, November 25, said Major Teodorico Gallego, the city’s police chief.

Gallego said Vallecer, a native of Cagayan de Oro, was heading to Lala town after attending a meeting with election officials led by Lanao del Norte provincial election supervisor Joseph Hamilton Cuevas at the Technical Education and Skills building Development Authority (Tesda) in Salvador. village.

The victim was rushed to Bontilao Hospital in Lala town where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Gallego said.

Vallecer’s body was brought to his hometown of Cagayan de Oro late Monday night and was received with tears by his wife Emily, family and friends of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) at a local mortuary.

Jed Lasmarias, a classmate, said Vallecer, a member of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan Batch 1990, had just attended the school’s grand reunion last Saturday.

Tito Mora, another BCBP member, said Vallecer confided to them that he had received death threats from local politicians.

On Saturday, November 23, at 4:18 p.m., two gunmen on a motorcycle shot Pandoy dead along the highway in Sampaguita, Poblacion, the city of President Quirino in Sultan Kudarat province.

Quirino police chief Major Joemarie Cua said Pandoy was riding home from a barbershop on his black motorcycle when he was attacked.

Pandoy was taken to the nearby Immaculate Conception Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Cua said. – Rappler.com