In an interview with station dxDB here, Catarata said justice should prevail and that any government action should be based on laws.
The former vice mayor was referring to several killings of drug suspects in Valencia in previous years which were attributed to a group called Anti-Drug Advocate or ADA. Residents believed incumbent Mayor Jose Galario Jr. was behind the group, a charge he had neither categorically confirmed nor denied.
ADA lay low, however, after the Police Provincial Mobile Group launched a crackdown against it.
Galario has portrayed himself as a serious anti-drug campaigner. Many times in the past, he would read over a local radio station the names of drug suspects and tell them to 'surrender' voluntarily if they did not wish to be harmed.
Galario, a retired police official who had served as chief of police of Valencia, publicly declared his admiration for the practice of the dreaded Davao Death Squad of liquidating suspected criminals.
Catarata, also a former provincial board member, won against Galario by a margin of 2,290 votes. He garnered 29,071 votes while the latter got 26,781.
Valencia has around 90,000 registered voters.
The mayor's defeat came as his son, Glen, also lost his bid for the congressional seat of Bukidnon's second district.
Teofisto Guingona III won his second term as second district representative.