NO POWDER BURNS ON NIÑO’S HANDS

GISELA BONIEL CASE. Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, accused of killing his wife Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel, is held behind bars at the Fuente Osmeña Police Station’s detention cell in this photo taken on June 10, 2017.

TALIÑO ADMITS 

Bohol Provincial Board Member (PB) Niño Rey Boniel, held for allegedly shooting dead his wife Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel, yielded no trace of gunpowder residue on his hands.

But the result of the paraffin test done on Niño a day after he allegedly shot Gisela is not a conclusive evidence that can get the board member off the hook, said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).

“Nagbabakasali lang naman kasi kami. (We were just trying our luck),” he told reporters in an interview on Tuesday when asked why the police subjected the board member’s hand to a paraffin test.

“But of course, several things happened before we subjected him to a paraffin test (last June 8). He could have washed his hands with seawater which can quickly remove those residues,” he added.

The region’s top police official said the result of the paraffin test as well as their failure to recover the gun used in the crime would not affect the parricide case they filed against Niño at the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office.

Taliño said they are banking on the testimonies of at least four witnesses who were with Niño before, during and after Gisela was reportedly brought from Bien Unido, on board a motorized boat, to the water off Mactan Island where she was shot dead and dumped into the sea sometime at dawn of June 7.

The first three of the witnesses referred to by Taliño were Angela Gamalinda-Leyson, Gisela’s best friend; Riolito Boniel, the PB member’s cousin; and Randel Lupas, the driver of the board member in Bien Unido.

Leyson earlier testified how Niño and his cohorts held her and her 17-year-old son captive inside the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp last June 7 and that she saw Niño punch Gisela on the body.

Leyson and her son were later forced into a vehicle driven by Lupas, who brought them to Tubigon town where they were released.

Lupas corroborated Leyson’s claim, saying it was Niño who instructed him to bring Angela and the latter’s son to the town’s port.

Riolito, turning into an eyewitness, on the other hand, claimed he saw the board member shoot Gisela while they were on board a pump boat near Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City.

Niño, along with Riolito, Lupas and two other suspects — Restituto Magoncia Jr. and Willy Hoylar — are now held by the police.

Four other alleged cohorts of the board member — Willy’s son Wilson, Brian Sayson, Lobo Boniel and Allan delos Reyes Jr. — remain free.

New witness

Last Monday, a new witness came forward in the person of Edgar Tapere, Niño’s driver in Cebu City, who confirmed to the police that he was the one who picked up the board member in Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City, at around 6 a.m. on June 7, about two hours after the approximate time that Gisela’s body was dumped into the sea.

Taliño said Tapere’s testimonies were vital to the case.

“These are very crucial as we try to connect the dots of this case,” he said.

According to Taliño, Tapere told the police that from Punta Engaño, he drove the motorcycle that brought Niño to the latter’s posh residence in Monterrazas Village, Barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City.

While in Lapu-Lapu City, Tapere was ordered by Niño to throw away to the street what appeared to be pieces of clothes, Taliño revealed.

Niño did not stay long in his Monterrazas house and ordered Tapere to drive him to Pier 3 in Cebu City on board a Toyota Altis car. Niño was later seen in a CCTV footage entering the port’s terminal, where he boarded a vessel bound for Tubigon.

Taliño said that before Niño left, he gave P60,000 in cash to Tapere that the latter sent to Lupas through a money transfer outlet.

Lupas later admitted to the police that he received the money, which he said he gave to Willy Hoylar and Delos Reyes, who each got P30,000, added Taliño.

Before he surrendered, Tapere said he was allegedly instructed by Niño’s legal counsel, lawyer Gerardo Carillo, not to reveal what he knew about the case to the police.

But Taliño said Tapere got scared when he learned that the police were looking for him and decided to turn himself in.

Obstruction of justice

The Regional Intelligence Division in Central Visayas (RID-7), the lead police agency handling Gisela’s slay case, is now contemplating on filing an obstruction of justice complaint against Carillo, said Taliño.

The same case might also be filed against Niño’s older brother Jay for reportedly taking away the Honda Click motorcycle that was driven by Tapere in transporting Niño from Punta Engaño to Cebu City.

“Our legal team is now studying that (filing a case of obstruction of justice against Carillo and Jay) aspect of the case,” Taliño said.

Sought for comment, Carillo denied asking Tapere not to cooperate with the police.

He said Tapere is not a material witness to the case, but the police may have prepared the driver’s sworn statement to pin down Niño.
“We have no intention to obstruct justice,” he told Cebu Daily News over the phone.

Carillo, a former Cebu City councilor, said Niño’s legal team is studying the filing of an illegal detention complaint against the police for still detaining the board member despite an earlier order from Judge Marivic Trabajo-Daray of the Regional Trial Court in Talibon, Bohol, to release the board member.

Daray, acting on a writ of habeas corpus petition filed by Niño’s lawyers, ordered the board member freed after ruling that the police failed to file the necessary charges against the official within the 36-hour reglementary period.

However, a three-man panel of prosecutors in Lapu-Lapu City handling the parricide case against Niño ruled that the warrantless arrest of the board member for the crime of parricide was valid. Carillo said they would contest the ruling.

‘Truthful’

Taliño stressed that far from violating the law, police have been truthful in trying to deliver justice to the family of Gisela.

“Huwag ninyo takutin ang mga pulis. (Don’t threaten the police),” he said in response to Carillo’s threat to sue the police for allegedly coercing witnesses and fabricating statements against Niño.

“They (Niño’s lawyers) have their own tactics to discredit the witnesses. But let it be known that the police are not hiding anything. We are open to any investigation and we will face whatever case they will file against us,” he said.

“Pero tayo naman ay nagtatrabaho lang. Ang intention lang naman natin ay ang pagbigay ng justice sa pagkapatay ni Mayor Gisela. (We are just doing our job. Our intention is to find justice for the death of Mayor Gisela),” he added.

Last Monday, divers searching for Gisela’s body recovered a blanket with holes, and a 14-inch hair strand near Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City.

Taliño said the blanket and hair strand will be subjected to forensic examination and will be compared to other blankets in the dive resort where Gisela stayed before she was killed.

Divers continued to scour the sea off Caubian Island yesterday but still have not found the body of Gisela.

“The search and retrieval operation will continue until we find Mayor Gisela’s body,” said Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, the director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office and ground commander of the operations.