TWO Commission on Elections officials assigned to two towns considered “hot spots” in Mindanao were killed in two days, police said.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia called the deaths of Mark Orlando Vallecer II, acting election officer of Nunungan town, and Janeco Allan Dionaldo Pandoy, Comelec election assistant II of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, were not a crime against public servants but “an assault to democracy itself.”

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

Major Teodorico Gallego, Salvador town police chief said two gunmen riding in tandem fired at Vallecer as his red Toyota Vios car when it slowed down on a rough section of the road in Barangay Curva Miagao, Salvador town in Lanao del Norte at 2:19 pm yesterday.

Gallego said the victim was heading for Lala town after attending a meeting with election officials led by Lanao del Norte provincial election supervisor Joseph Hamilton Cuevas at the Tesda school building in Salvador town.

ELECTION OFFICER MOURNED. Friends and family gather in Cagayan de Oro to grieve the loss of Mark Orlando Vallecer, the acting election officer of Nunungan Town, who was ambushed and killed by two gunmen in Salvador Town on Monday. Photo by Froilan Gallardo

He said the victim was rushed to the Bontilao hospital in Lala town where he was declared dead on arrival.

In Sultan Kudarat province, President Quirino town police chief Major Joemarie Cua said Comelec assistant Pandoy was riding home on his black Yamaha Mio motorcycle from a barber shop when two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed him along the highway in Purok Sampaguita, Barangay Poblacion in that town at 4:18 pm last Saturday.

Cua said the victim was brought to nearby Immaculate Conception Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

The body of Vallecer arrived in Cagayan de Oro late Monday night where it had a tearful reception from his wife, Emily, and friends from the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) at a local mortuary.

Jed Lasmarias, a schoolmate, said Vallecer, a member of Xavier University Batch 90, attended the school's grand reunion last Saturday.

Tito Mora, another friend from BCBP said Vallecer confided to them that he has been receiving death threats from local politicians.