Niño Boniel’s driver in Cebu City tagged as ‘person of interest’

The Cebu City-based driver of Bohol Provincial Board Member Nino Rey Boniel is now considered a ‘person of interest” in the killing of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel.

The police are now looking for Edgar Tapere, reportedly a resident of Labangon, Cebu City, after he was seen fetching Niño from the Punta Engaño wharf in Lapu-lapu City at around 6 a.m. of June 7 (Wednesday), the day when the crime was allegedly committed, said Regional Intelligence Division (RID 7) chief Senior Superintendent Jonathan Cabal over dyLA.

Based from the different CCTV footages, Tapere was driving a black Yamaha Mio motorcycle when he fetched the board member.

The board member was seen holding the bag owned by Gisela while they were travelling from Punta Engano—passing through Maribago and to the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge– before heading to the Boniels’ Cebu City residence in Monterrazas de Cebu in Barangay Guadalupe.

That means, Cabal said, PB Member Boniel went directly to Cebu after he committed the crime.

It was earlier revealed by the boatman Riolito Boniel, Niño’s cousin, that the provincial official shot Gisela in the head and threw her body at the waters of Caubian Island, an islet under the jurisdiction of Lapu-Lapu City.

Cabal said they suspected that PB Member Boniel left the gun he used in the crime in his residence in Guadalupe, which explained why they raided his house the other day. However, no gun was found.

Cabal said that based also on the CCTV footage in Monterrazas, Boniel briefly stayed in his house before he went to Pier 3 in Cebu City, on board a black Toyota Altis sedan. From Pier 3, he boarded a vessel bound for Tubigon, Bohol.

Cabal said they are not sure if Tapere has just gone on hiding or if something bad had happened to him.

“He is missing. We are not sure if he is hiding intentionally or baka may nangyari na sa kanya,” Cabal told dyLA in an interview.

Cabal said they believed that Tapere knew where the murder weapon is kept, so he must show up to shed light about this. If Tapere was just hiding, he will be charged as an accessory to the crime.

Cabal appealed to Tapere to voluntarily show up and cooperate with the police and he will not be charged.

Cabal said they first tried to locate Tapere in LapuLapu City because that was the first address they got, but they later learned that he is a resident of Barangay Labangon in Cebu City.