The vice mayor of Sapa-Sapa town in Tawi-Tawi, an island province in the southern Philippines, was shot dead on Wednesday in Zamboanga City, the Straits Times reported quoting Xin Hua News. Police said the victim, Al-Rashid Mohammad Alih, 53, was aboard his car when ambushed by gunmen on a motorcycle past 5pm local time on Wednesday. Two mayors and two vice-mayors have been gunned down in less than two weeks. One of the mayors had been on President Rodrigo Duterte’s watchlist of local officials suspected of having links to the narcotics trade, but the other two victims had no known drug ties. One was even an ally of his, writes Raul Dancel. “Election-related violence usually ramps up a few months before an election,” Human Rights Watch researcher Carlos Conde said as quoted by the Star Online, noting that the next polls were 10 months away.