COTABATO CITY -- Police in Sultan Kudarat province said the slain vice mayor of President Quirino town had been receiving death threats before he was murdered Monday night.

Senior Insp. Isabelo Rufino, President Quirino police chief, said Vice Mayor Froilan Rufino once told police that he had been receiving threats from still unidentified persons.

Two men riding in tandem on a motorbike shot Rufino at 6:15 p.m. Monday in front of his house in Barangay (Village) Katiko.

Days before, Rufino said, the vice mayor told him about the threat. When the police officer asked him whether he had any idea as to who made the threats, Rufino quoted the vice mayor as saying: “I really don’t know.”

A province-wide manhunt has been launched to identify and arrest the suspects, said Senior Supt. Benhur Mongao, Sultan Kudarat police chief.

Quoting witnesses, Insp. Rufino said the vice mayor was standing in front of his compound and was about to enter the gate when the suspects arrived and one of them suddenly fired a 9mm pistol at the victim.

Rufino was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.

Insp. Rufino said police investigators are also looking at different angles behind the murder, whether it was politically motivated or because of personal grudge.

“He has no known enemy,” Mongao said, but added it was a pre-meditated crime.