Boniel indicted for kidnapping, parricide; no bail recommended

BOHOL Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel was indicted yesterday for kidnapping and serious illegal detention by the Bohol Provincial Prosecutor’s Office and parricide by the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor.

Both charges carry the penalty of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment to death, and are thus non-bailable.

Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Aida Degaum-Langcamon filed the kidnapping case against PB Member Boniel for allegedly holding captive his wife’s best friend and her son, before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Talibon town.

Also yesterday morning, the three-man panel of prosecutors of the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office elevated the parricide case against Boniel, his cousin Riolito Boniel and driver Randel Lupas to the RTC in Lapu-Lapu City, in connection with the killing of Boniel’s wife, Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel.

But the police will ask the court to consider Riolito and Lupas as state witnesses, saying they have less participation in the crime.
Kidnapping

Lawyer Inocencio De La Cerna Jr., who spoke in behalf of Niño, said the board member’s legal team in Bohol opted to withdraw their plea for a preliminary investigation which could have given them the chance to file a counter-affidavit and refute the allegations.

This being so, Prosecutor Langcamon ruled to elevate the case against Niño to the court.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Gisela’s best friend Angela Gamalinda-Leyson, who along with her 17-year-old son, were purportedly held by Niño inside the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp last June 7.

Leyson said one of Niño’s men tasered her, and as she was led out of the room, she saw Niño punch Gisela on the stomach.

The board member later released her and her son after they were warned not to tell the police about what happened.

But Leyson defied Niño’s order and reported the matter to the police.

Niño was eventually arrested and was pointed to by at least two other witnesses as the primary suspect in Gisela’s death.

Parricide

Niño’s cousin Riolito claimed that he drove the pump boat that transported Gisela and Niño to the sea, while Lupas helped carry Gisela’s body from the resort to the sea vessel.

The two men pointed to Niño as the mastermind behind the killing and the person who shot Gisela in the head before throwing her body to the sea.

Riolito, Lupas, and Niño’s other driver Edgar Tapere denied insinuations that they were being coerced by the police to pin down Niño.

“Honest-to-goodness ni ang among gibuhat. Nagtug-an ra g’yud mi sa tinuod kay naghuna-huna mi sa among pamilya. Dili g’yud mi mobakwi sa among testimonya. (What we are doing is honest-to-goodness act. We are just telling the truth for the sake of our families. We will never recant our testimony.),” said Riolito in an interview at the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas’ headquarters yesterday.

Lupas claimed that he was on the same boat with Niño when he saw the latter shoot Gisela on the head before they dumped her body to the sea.

“Na-shock g’yud ko sa nahitabo. Wa ko magtuo nga mao to ang iyang buhaton. Maayo baya tong tawo si mayora. Wala intawn mi nahimo kay boss baya na namo siya (Niño). Nahadlok mi kay nagdala ra ba og armas. (I was really shocked with what happened. I did not expect Niño to do that.

Mayora was a good person. But we did not have a choice because Niño was our boss and we were afraid of what might happen to us because he was carrying a gun),” he said.

Niño’s driver in Cebu, Edgar Tapere, who picked up Niño in Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City after the latter reportedly shot Gisela, said he made the right decision to surrender to the police.

“Mas safe ko diri. Dili ko mahadlok diri. (I’m safer here. I am not afraid here),” he said.

Tapere denied the claims of one of Niño’s lawyers Gerardo Carillo, that they were mauled by the police and were forced to testify against the board member.

“Wala g’yud ko gipugos. Wala mi problem diri. (I was never coerced. We have no problems here),” he said.

Aside from Niño, also listed as suspects by the police were Riolito, 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 Restituto Magoncia Jr.

Hoylar and Magoncia, through their lawyer, yesterday filed a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus in a Cebu court to question the validity of their arrest.

Senior Supt. Jonathan Cabal, head of the Regional Intelligence Division, said the testimonies of the witnesses and the pieces of evidence they recovered showed that the killing of Gisela was premeditated.

Authorities have yet to recover Gisela’s body as well as the gun used in killing her.