Valera was gunned down inside his home on Wednesday night, April 13 by still unidentified assailants.
Valera was shot three times while resting on his hammock. He was brought to the nearest hospital but was declared dead.
Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang ordered the creation of the Task Force following the command conference held Monday (April 18) with officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Dayanghirang said he ordered the Task Force to solve the case as soon as possible.
“My instruction was that I want this case solved as soon as possible,”Dayanghirang said, noting that the investigators have already submitted their initial findings.
According to Dayanghirang, the incident might be election-related , however he said, authorities are also looking at various possible motives of the shooting of Valera
“This is the first, but we could not make any conclusions just yet,” Dayanghirang said.
Dayanghirang clarified that ever since in the history of Davao Oriental, the province did not have any election-related violence until now, with two cases of violence happening during the election period.
He called on those with helpful information that could help the investigation to come forward and coordinate with the authorities.
Valera’s case was the second violent death during the election period in the province. On April 1, a vlogger from the municipality of Manay was shot dead by still unidentified suspects.
Dayanghirang, meanwhile, asked those politicizing the recent incidents to stop making conclusions that would agitate the public and just let the investigators do their job.
Following the incident, he also ordered the security forces to beef up security measures by increasing police and military visibility.
Dayanghirang assured his commitment to a peaceful national and local elections on May 9, 2022.