The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday vowed to seek justice for a slain poll officer in Lanao del Norte.

In an interview with reporters, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia assured that the poll body will not stop “until we get justice.”

“It is sad because there are indeed criminal elements in our society who have done nothing but sow terror, and the ones who are being victimized are those from Comelec,” Garcia said in Filipino.

Garcia also offered their condolences to the family of Mark Orlando Q. Villacer, acting election officer of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte and Janeco Allan Pandoy, election assistant.

“Hopefully, our plea to our Philippine National Police is that we can arrest someone who may be responsible for this, because if it [is] neglected and forgotten by everyone, our countrymen will especially be afraid,” he continued.

Reports indicate that Vallecer was ambushed while driving his car on his way back to Cagayan de Oro from Salvador, Lanao del Norte.

Garcia said that attacks towards poll officers, even though not fatal, are always considered “election-related.”

“We always consider it election-related because even if they say that there may be other personal reasons, it cannot be removed from the newspaper, on television, on the radio—it will always say Election Officer of Comelec or Comelec Election Assistant,” he furthered.

“So, for the Comelec, that's election-related. No no one may have been arrested yat, but the nature of their work has something to do with the attack,” he added.

Garcia said that those who incite violence towards their officers are “cowards.”

“Those who do (violence) are cowards…Because when they cannot face their political opponents, they will hurt our staff. I mean, that's cowardly… But at the same time, there should not be a culture of violence during elections. We need to prove that even during the election, it's fair competition,” he said.

“When you kill one of our staff, do you think we will be afraid? There are many staff we can put to replace their place. And I will make sure that the replacement will be strict and that the battle is fair in that town and area.”

Lanao del Norte is part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which will hold its first-ever parliamentary elections in May next year.