MISSING? Bien Unido Bohol Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — Where is Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel of Bien Unido town?
Her husband, Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, was taken into police custody for questioning on Wednesday night on suspicion that he kidnapped his own wife.
Senior Supt. Jonathan Cabal, head of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID), said the provincial board member was taken into custody based on the complaints of the mayor’s relatives.
Niño was brought to RID inside Camp Sergio Osmeña, headquarters of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas in Cebu City, to be investigated.
Witnesses said that on Wednesday afternoon, Gisela and her two friends were at the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp when Niño arrived.
“There was a heated argument between the couple,” said a witness.
Gisela’s friends proceeded to Cebu through the port of Tubigon town on Wednesday.
Gisela left and had not been heard of since.
Since the mayor could not be contacted, her family decided to go to the police.
A friend of Gisela reached her on her mobile phone about 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
The mayor was sobbing as she assured her friend that she was fine.
“I am fine. I don’t want to talk about it,” the friend quoted the mayor as saying.
Before her argument with her husband, Gisela had just come from Singapore.
Witnesses said that couple’s relationship turned sour in December last year. “We thought it’s normal for a couple,” said a witness.
Niño was also angry when he learned that his wife loaned a P2.5 million worth of watch.
Gisela was elected mayor in May 2016, replacing her husband who won as board member for the second district of Bohol.
She was a pilot at Air Asia. Authorities are now looking for the mayor who, according to her friends, may just be cooling off or “ventilating.” (With reports from Benjie Talisic and Ador Vincent Mayol, Inquirer Visayas, @inquirervisayas, INQ) SFM/rga
Bien Unido, Bohol (Google maps)