Comelec to PNP: Resolve slay case of South Cotabato vice mayoral bet

Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia  INQUIRER.net file photo / NOY MORCOSO

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to resolve the killing of an aspirant for a vice mayoral post in South Cotabato.

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia emphasized that no threat or killing should happen even before the election period comes in January 2025.

“All of this is a law enforcement issue. Therefore, we call on the DILG and the Philippine National Police to immediately arrest the one responsible for this,” Garcia said in Filipino during the sidelines of the second day of the 1st National Convention of Election Officers in Pasay City.

READ: P1M offered for leads in S. Cotabato vice mayoral aspirant’s murder

“So we can show our fellow citizens that even if it is not yet the start of the election period, we can arrest these kinds of criminals,” Garcia added.

The formal election period will start on January 12, 2025 and will last until June 11, 2025.

The poll body chief also said that many may consider it as an election-related matter on the onset of filing of certificates of candidacy.

“Our power will become effective in January, or what we call the election period. We don’t have the power to put government control in any parts of the country or to classify an area as an area of concern,” Garcia added in Filipino.

Further, Garcia stressed that the commission will exhaust its authority to help in preventing more killings to happen.

“The commission will definitely use all its powers and resources and with the help of our partners to prevent these kinds of violence when the proper time comes, that is the election period. We condemn in the highest possible terms these senseless killings,” he said.

Vice mayoral aspirant Jose Osorio was killed by unidentified gunmen in Tantangan town in South Cotabato. His body was found by his relatives inside his home early Monday morning.

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Osorio, who served as the chairperson of Barangay Bukay Pait for three terms, was the running mate of former mayor Benjamin Figueroa for the 2025 polls.

The police are considering election-related or personal grudges as possible angles of the investigations.