Police and divers from the Philippine Navy and the Maritime police have halted the search for the body of Bien Unido, Bohol Mayor Gisela Boniel scouring for several hours and failing to find her remains in the waters between Bohol and Mactan Island.
Police Regional Director for Central Visayas (PRO 7) director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño said decided to stop the search of 8:30 p.m. since it was already too dark for a dive along the sea off Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City, where the body of the mayor was believed to have been dumped after she was killed by her husband, Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, inside a resort owned by Boniel’s family in Bien Unido sometime pre-dawn on Wednesday.
Taliño said they would resume the search at 5 a.m. tomorrow, Friday.
A cousin of the PB member, Rioltio ”Etad”” (not Ethan as earlier reported) Boniel, guided the police to where he said he threw the body overboard.
Etad had claimed it was allegedly the PB member who killed his wife. Etad said he transported the body on board a motorized banca, wrapped in it fish net and weighed it down with a 30-kilogram rock before he threw it into the sea somewhere between Bien Unido and Punta Engaño.
Etad said he was given P10,000 by PB Member Boniel after the incident.