BOHOL SENDS AID

SIBLINGS of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel from Iligan City and Cavite travel to the sea between Cebu and Bohol where her body was believed to have been dumped to offer flowers, light candles and pray that her remains can soon be found.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Bohol, after all, cares.

A week after efforts to find the body of Mayor Gisela Boniel of Bien Unido town in Bohol started, Gov. Edgar Chatto decided to release P100,000 in financial assistance to the ongoing search for the missing local executive.

According to the statement issued by the Bohol provincial government on Thursday afternoon, Chatto handed the assistance to Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).

Chatto also called Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza to personally thank her for her government’s support for Gisela’s search.

The statement said the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) through its Bohol-chapter president, Clarin Mayor Allen Rey Piezas, would hand another P50,000 to the police to help defray the cost of the ongoing search for Gisela who was believed to have been thrown into the sea between Cebu and Bohol after she was allegedly shot by her husband, now-detained Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, last June 7.

Acting Bien Unido Mayor Rene Borinaga likewise sent a team of seven divers on Thursday morning to help seven other divers from Cebu in looking for Gisela’s body.

The search and retrieval operations, which started on June 8, is scheduled to continue until next week.

Last week, Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, appealed for help from the local government of Bohol to help defray their expenses.

He said the local police and the Lapu-Lapu City government have squeezed tight their budget to locate and retrieve the mayor’s body.
Cabagnot said they are spending about P50,000 every day for the search and retrieval operations.

Don’t give up

Both Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale urged authorities to never give up and to continue searching for Gisela’s body.
“Let us not give up,” said Magpale in an interview yesterday.

“The search must continue although I understand that we are running out of funds. If only we can fill that up,” she added.

Davide said finding Gisela’s body will somehow alleviate the pain suffered by the mayor’s family.

“I hope we retrieve the body so her family will have peace of mind,” he said.

Taliño admitted it is not easy to locate Gisela’s body.

“Masyadong malawak kasi ang dagat (The sea is too wide). But we will do our best to recover the body,” he said an interview.

Expanded search

Taliño said he alerted the police in the nearby island of Camotes in the eastern part of Cebu to monitor floating objects in their place since there is a possibility that Gisela’s body may have been brought by the sea current to that area of the province.

One of the suspects, Riolito Boniel, earlier confessed to having operated the boat which was used in transporting Gisela’s body to the sea.
He led authorities to the part of the sea where they threw Gisela’s body.

Riolito, who was endorsed as a state witness by the police, pointed to Provincial Board Member Boniel as the person who shot the victim in the head before throwing the latter’s body to the sea.

Taliño said divers have gone beyond the area pointed to by Riolito in an attempt to recover Gisela’s body.

“The Philippine Navy is using its equipment to scan the sea (in between Bien Unido town, Bohol, and Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City). Once we utilize the necessary equipment and still we cannot find the body, then we need to stop,” he said.

Although recovering Gisela’s body would boost the case filed by the police, Taliño said they could still prove the guilt of the respondents even without the victim’s remains since they already have eyewitnesses to the crime.

Taliño said the traces of blood found on the boat that was used to transport the body of Gisela were also subjected to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) test by the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory.

“We have to compare it to samples from Mayor Boniel’s direct relatives, preferably her mother who is in Iligan City. If not, we can take samples (swabs of saliva) from her sibling,” he said.

Gisela’s four siblings visited Taliño at the PRO-7 last Tuesday and appealed to the police to help the family secure justice for their slain sister.

Taliño said Gisela’s siblings refused to answer queries from the media and requested them to respect their privacy. The family nonetheless sent a written note to reporters to express their hope of recovering Gisela’s body.

Gisela, Philippine AirAsia’s first female pilot, is a native of Iligan City.

A parricide complaint was filed against Gisela’s husband, Niño, at the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office last Tuesday.

Charged with Niño were his eight alleged cohorts — his cousin Riolito, driver Randel Lupas, Willy Hoylar, Restituto Magoncia Jr., Lubo Boniel, Allan delos Reyes Jr., Wilson Hoylar and Brian Boniel Saycon.

Of the eight, only four were arrested with Niño: Riolito, Lupas, Willy Hoylar and Magoncia. The rest are at large.

Niño is currently detained at the Fuente Police Station stockade located across the PRO-7 headquarters. The four other arrested suspects are under the custody of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG).

Lubo’s defense

Lawyer Inocencio de la Cerna Jr., counsel of Lubo, cautioned the police from arresting his client.

“There is now no reason for the police to implement a ‘hot pursuit’ arrest on Lubo,” he said.

“A case was already filed against him, and I will get a copy from the prosecutor’s office and we will file a counter-affidavit to refute the allegations. We will do so in due time,” he added.

De La Cerna said Lubo, another cousin of Niño, feared that he might get arrested after his name cropped up as among the suspects in Gisela’s slay.

The lawyer refused to reveal details about the confessions of Lubo, who was pointed to as the owner of the boat used in transporting Gisela’s body.

No official mourning yet

Meanwhile, Arcele Avenido, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council in Bien Unido, said Philippine flags in the municipality won’t be flown at half-staff until Gisela’s body is recovered.

Avenido, in an interview, brushed aside insinuations that the municipality is not doing anything to locate the mayor’s body.

She said they were shocked when they learned that Gisela was killed, and didn’t know how to reach out to the divers in Lapu-Lapu City.

Avenido said she was directed by Bien Unido Acting Mayor Borinaga to coordinate with the Lapu-Lapu City government as the search for Gisela’s body continues.

Avenido said the municipal council of Bein Unido already released a budget for the expenses of the divers the municipal government hired, who joined the search for the first time since the search and retrieval operations began.

‘Pakita na intawon’

Last Monday, Gisela’s siblings went to Bien Unido and asked authorities to bring them to the part of the sea where the victim’s body was believed to have been thrown.

Avenido said the siblings threw flowers and lit candles that floated on the sea while praying that Gisela will eventually be found.

Gisela, 40, is the youngest of five siblings. Her father died years ago, while her ailing mother remains in Iligan City.

Gisela’s cousin Oscar Bendong went with the search and retrieval operation team yesterday and offered seven flowers, three 25-centavo coins and seven candles, while praying that the victim will be found.

“Day, pakita na intawon (Please show yourself),” he said while holding lighted candles at the rear portion of the motorbanca.

He explained that this has been a custom from their elders when pleading for someone’s missing dead body in the seas to surface.