SLAY SOLVED: In this photo, which was taken in 2017, police officers escort former Bohol Board Member Niño Rey Boniel out of a courtroom after his arraignment. Boniel has pleaded guilty to killing his wife, former Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel, almost five years after the crime. (Photo by LEO UDTOHAN / Inquirer Visayas)
CEBU CITY—A former provincial board member of Bohol has pleaded guilty to killing his wife who remains missing after her body was thrown into the sea off Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu province in June 2017.
Niño Rey Boniel made the admission during a hearing at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 70 in Lapu-Lapu City on Tuesday.
Niño Rey, 42, who was initially charged with parricide, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of homicide through a plea bargaining agreement, five years after he was arrested for killing his wife, Gisela Bendong-Boniel.
Gisela, 40, was the mayor of Bien Unido town, Bohol at the time of her disappearance and death.
Niño Rey’s co-accused — Allan de los Reyes Jr., Wilfredo Hoylar, and Restituto Magoncia Jr. — also pleaded guilty to homicide.
More cases
RTC Judge Christine Muga-Abad sentenced them to eight to 14 years of imprisonment. Had they been convicted of parricide and murder without a plea bargain, Niño Rey and his coaccused would have been meted a penalty of reclusion perpetua, or 20 to 40 years in prison.
Niño Rey and the other accused are still facing separate cases of serious illegal detention and kidnapping which were filed by Gisela’s friend, Angela Leyson.
The charges stemmed from the claim of Leyson that Niño Rey detained her and her son to prevent them from reporting to authorities when the former board member forcibly took Gisela from a hotel room at Bien Unido Double Barrier Resort in the town to kill her.
Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, legal counsel for Gisela’s family, said they had yet to finish the presentation of their evidence when the four accused proposed to enter a plea bargain.
Marital problems
“I guess they already knew that the prosecution’s evidence were more than enough to prove their guilt,” he told local reporters.
Ligutan said Gisela’s family was satisfied with the court’s ruling. “Justice has been served,” he said.
Gisela’s body was thrown into the sea between the islands of Caubian and Olango off Lapu-Lapu City after she was shot and killed on June 7, 2017. Her body was never found despite the efforts of police officers and private divers to locate her.
Witnesses believed marital problems were the motive behind the killing.
Niño Rey’s cousin, Reolito Boniel, and driver, Randel Lupas, were earlier indicted for murder but eventually turned into state witnesses after confessing their participation in the crime.
The mayor’s body, witnesses said, was wrapped in a fishing net, which was weighed down by rocks, before this was dumped at sea.
Gisela was elected mayor in May 2016, replacing Niño Rey who won as a board member representing the second district of Bohol.
Before she entered politics, Gisela worked with Air Asia, becoming the first female pilot to work for the airline company.
Niño Rey is detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu City while Delos Reyes, Hoylar, and Magoncia are locked up at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Lapu-Lapu City.
—WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
RELATED STORIES
Parricide raps filed vs Boniel, 7 others for mayor-wife’s kidnap-slay
Prime suspect in Gisela Boniel case transferred to Cebu jail
Bohol mayor killed, thrown to sea; husband held