This is purely lawlessness and I’m calling our authorities to take control of the situation here before it gets worse,” said gubernatorial candidate Carlos Valdez, who is a close ally of Peralta.

The lawyer believes the killing was politically motivated since Peralta is close to winning at fifth place in the race for the 10 provincial board seats.

Comelec officials said that should Peralta win in the election, he would be replaced by either his wife or anybody from his family.

Chief Supt. Felicisimo Khu, Region 12 police director, said they have formed a special task force to lead the investigation on the daring ambush-slay.

Khu said they assigned a team of investigators from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Region 12 to spearhead the investigation of the incident, which he declared as election-related.

“The victim is at fifth place or occupying the last winning seat in his district’s provincial board race and several other candidates are currently running close to him,” he said.

Khu refused to speculate on the possible brains behind the killing but he said several witnesses have already surfaced that could possibly identify the suspects.

“This case is a top priority right now. Hopefully we can gather substantial information from these witnesses so we can identify and arrest all those involved,” he said.

Khu reiterated that all police personnel in the entire region have remained on full alert status until all election-related activities, especially the canvassing of votes in some areas, are completed.

He urged all local politicians, especially the winning candidates, to take extra security precautions while the canvassing of votes is still ongoing.

“The situation is very volatile because of the ongoing canvassing right now so it’s better if they just remain in their homes,” Khu said. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews)