Thrown at sea

Gisela Boniel, in this file photo, donned her pilot uniform and beamed before the camera. Before she became the mayor of Bien Unido town, she had been hailed at one of the most recognizable faces in the aviation industry as the first female pilot of budget airline Air Asia. She is now missing and believed to have been killed by her husband, Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Boniel (inset, in handcuffs), who is now held at the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) headquarters in Cebu City.

BIEN UNIDO MAYOR MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD

Five years ago, they made a vow to stay by each other’s side for better or for worse.

As months passed by, the relationship of spouses Gisela Bendong-Boniel, mayor of Bien Unido town in Bohol, and Niño Rey Boniel, a Provincial Board (PB) member in Bohol, turned sour for some reasons.

The conflict worsened that Gisela, who prior to becoming a politician has made a name for herself as Air Asia’s first female pilot, wanted to have their marriage annulled.

Last Wednesday, the marital conflict turned into a gruesome crime, after the Bohol police arrested Niño for allegedly killing his wife and for throwing her body into the sea between Bien Unido in Bohol and Lapu-Lapu City’s Punta Engaño, off Cebu’s Mactan Island.

Also arrested together with Niño were his cousin Ethan Boniel, Randel Lokas who served as driver, and two other men whose identities have yet to be revealed by the police.

Up to late last night, the police and divers were scouring the waters off Mactan Island in search of the the body of Gisela.

“We are checking the water off Punta Engaño because we received reports that the body was thrown there,” said Senior Supt. Jonathan Cabal, head of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas’ (PRO-7) Regional Intelligence Division based in Cebu City.

Case closed

Niño, who along with the other suspects was arrested in Bohol and brought to Cebu, denied the accusations leveled against him.

“I have mixed feelings” was Niño’s curt reply when asked how he was dealing with the situation.

He refused to talk more about the case, saying his lawyer will take care of the matter.

But Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, PRO-7 chief, said the case was considered solved.

“We have witnesses and evidence pointing to Niño Rey Boniel as the mastermind. We made arrests and we are going to file charges soon, so this case is considered solved,” said Taliño in a press conference in his office yesterday.

The couple has a four-year-old son who is under the custody of Niño.

“Based on the information we gathered, they were at odds since last year. The motive is deep. Reportedly, financial and family problems including love triangle were the causes of their conflict,” Taliño added.

“The report that we got said that the mayor is already dead, but we cannot have a final conclusion until we find the body,” Taliño said.

The three suspects were detained at the PRO-7 headquarters in Cebu City after the relatives of the mayor sought the help of the police. But Taliño said there could be six to eight persons involved in the crime.

Before facing the media, Taliño said he talked with the PB member who, he said, admitted that it was “one of his men who shot his wife.”

“As of now, we have not established yet who shot the victim,” Taliño said.

But Ethan claimed it was the PB member who allegedly killed his wife. He later led the police, headed by Taliño, to the area where the body was thrown.

Ethan, speaking to reporters who joined the search, claimed he made sure that a rock weighing about 30 kilos was tied tightly into the body of the mayor to make sure that she would sink when they threw her into the sea.

Randel Lokas, the Boniels’ family driver, was initially arrested as a possible accomplice but could be turned into a state witness as he had the lesser participation in the crime, said Taliño.

Friend and witness

Angela Gamalinda-Leyson, the victim’s best friend and one of those who were held hostage by the suspects, had to be pacified by the police after she tried to attack Niño in a chance encounter at the PRO-7 headquarters.

“Who do you think are you? Rey Niño Boniel is the suspect. You are stupid!” she yelled at the board member.

In an interview, Leyson said Niño should be held liable for everything he did to Gisela.

“I just want that person (Niño) to rot in jail, including everybody who participated. At the same time, I just want to find her (Gisela) body,” she added.

Leyson recalled that on Tuesday, she, her 17-year-old son and Gisela were invited by a certain Wilson to stay at the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp.

“We were asked to go there because there were documents that needed to be signed (by Gisela),” she said.

Leyson said Gisela wanted her marriage to be annulled since the mayor allegedly suspected that she was just being used by Niño, who was her predecessor as mayor of Bien Unido and whose attention has been called by the Commission on Audit (COA) for alleged questionable government transactions.

Gisela was elected mayor in May 2016, replacing her husband who won as provincial board member for the second district of Bohol.

“She (Gisela) really wanted to leave. She was a pilot. She had a career of her own. She was planning to resign (as mayor) although she wanted to resolve all (her marital) issues first,” she said.

Although she had a bad feeling about going to the resort owned by the Boniel family, Leyson said they decided to stay because they did not think that they would be harmed.

“(I said) ‘This is so fishy.’ Matalas ang pakiramdam ko (I have a strong radar) when it comes to dangers. But he (Wilson) told me I was wrong,” she said.

Timeline

Leyson said they arrived at the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday. An hour after, Leyson said she, her son, and Gisela had dinner; after which two women arrived and gave her and Gisela massages.

Leyson said she fell asleep. When she woke up around 11 p.m., she said she immediately felt uneasy but decided to go back to sleep. Leyson said she and Gisela shared Room 10 while her son was in another room.

Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, six to eight men suddenly barged into their room.

One of the intruders covered Leyson’s mouth with a duct tape and tasered her in the neck, causing her to slowly lose consciousness.

As her vision dimmed, she heard Gisela telling her husband: “In-in (Niño’s nickname), ayaw si Lala (Angela) kay naa ang iyang anak sa pikas room (In-in, spare Lala because her son is in the other room).”

“I was half awake but I could see them. I could see In-in punching (Gisela) in the stomach,” Leyson said.
That was the last time Leyson saw Gisela.

Leyson said Niño threatened her not to report the matter to authorities or else he would kill her.

She said one of the suspects also told her not to interfere as it was a fight between couple while another pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her if she would report the matter to the police.

She said she felt so helpless since the beach resort was isolated. She also was not able to do anything when she was handcuffed and was ordered to board a vehicle together with her son and they were driven away. Lokas later admitted he was the one who drove Leyson and her son to Tubigon town.

“Beside me inside the vehicle was someone who had worked with the Boniel family for 30 years now. He said he was assigned to kill those who would destroy the reputation of the ‘honorable’ board member,” she said.

“I just played along with them (so they would not kill us). I had to cooperate with them,” she added.

Leyson said they were brought to Tubigon town where she and her son were released. From Tubigon, Leyson decided to take a boat to Cebu on Wednesday and alerted Gisela’s family. Leyson then went to the Lapu-Lapu City police who, in turn, coordinated with the Bohol police and PRO-7 for the arrest of three of the suspects.

Financial disputes

According to Cabal, it was Niño who told them that it was his cousin, Ethan, who shot dead Gisela.

Leyson said Niño and Gisela earlier had a fight over financial matters.

Leyson did not elaborate but the couple’s friends in Bohol, who asked not be named, claimed that Niño got angry at his wife when he learned that she purchased on credit a watch worth P2.5 million.

The couple reportedly started fighting last December, but their friends thought it was nothing unusual as couples normally fight.

Lokas, the driver of Niño, narrated to the police that he and Gisela picked up Leyson and her son at a pier in Bohol around 3 p.m. last Tuesday.

He then drove them to a trial court in Bien Unido and to the COA office in the town before driving them to the Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp on Tuesday evening.

Lokas said he was sleeping inside the car when two men he identified as Willy Hauler and a certain Restituto Jr. woke him up at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday and told him to drive them and Leyson and her son to Tubigon, where the mother and son were made to board a fastcraft for Cebu.

After Leyson alerted the police in Cebu, Taliño said the PB member was invited for questioning at Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO). He was then formally placed under arrest when police were able to ascertain that he was involved in the murder of his wife.

“The government-owned vehicle issued to him (Niño) was seen in the dive camp where the mayor was last seen alive,” said Taliño.