Police raid the house of Bohol Board Member Niño Boniel and his wife, Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel on Friday in a subdivision in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City / CDN PHOTO BENJIE TALISIC
CEBU CITY–Policemen barged into the three-story house of Bohol Board Member Niño Rey Boniel and his wife, Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel on Friday in an upscale subdivision in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
Senior Insp. Windell Abella of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) said they were looking for a Glock 17 caliber mm pistol with serial number GLT 255 which was registered under Niño, the primary suspect in the death of his wife Gisela.
The search was done on the strength of the warrant issued by Judge Ramon Daomilas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 11 in Cebu City, giving the police a permission to search the Boniel residence in Monterrazas Village in Barangay Guadalupe.
The search covered the living room and kitchen on the ground floor, masters bedroom and two other rooms on the second floor, and the guest room on the third floor.
But police operatives failed to find the gun or any other material that may have been used in Gisela’s slay.
“The search yielded negative results,” Abellana said.
Present during the search warrant were a representative from the barangay and defense lawyer Gerardo Carillo.
In an interview, Carillo said they were expecting the police to search the couple’s house in Guadalupe and their other dwellings.
“We are actually expecting a search, and perhaps they will also search another house of the accused. We will be prepared as we are prepared today,” he said.
“We just told them to be fair. Whatever they find inside the house, that’s it,” he added.
The couple’s main house is located in Bien Unido town in Bohol where Gisela was elected mayor in 2016 to replace her husband who won as board member of Bohol’s 2nd district.
Carillo said the gun the police was looking for was owned by Niño.
“He has the right to dispose of or sell the same because that is the nature of private ownership,” he explained.
But will they heed the request of the police to surrender the gun?
“The police, I think doesn’t have the business of asking or demanding for the surrender of a firearm which is privately owned,” he said.
Based on the records of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, Nino’s permit to carry a gun expired in 2015.
Complaint of parricide was filed against Niño for allegedly killing his wife Gisela and throwing her body to the sea in between Bohol and Cebu last June 7.
Also impleaded in the complaint filed at the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office were eight of Niño’s alleged cohorts– four of whom were already arrested.
Niño is currently detained at the Fuente Osmeña Police Station stockade in Cebu City. Gisela’s body remains missing.