Potent brew?

The limelight has simply refused to veer away from our neighboring province of Bohol. After the Abu Sayyaf incursion there and the clashes that followed, including the arrest of one terrorist and his subsequent controversial death, comes the killing of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel with the suspect being her own husband, Bohol Provincial Board (PB) Member Niño Boniel.

Not only did the incident involve high-profile personalities in that province, the manner the dastardly deed was done is also attention-grabbing. The mayor, according to a witness, was abducted, shot on board a boat, her body wrapped in a fish net, weighed down by two rocks and thrown in the sea near Caubian island in Lapu-Lapu City.

We actually have heard before of similar brutal acts done by other husbands to their wives, or wives hiring killers to target their husbands. But this one involves a husband and a wife who are both politicians and whose marital relations and governance became problematic.

“As to the motive of the crime, they have a lot of problems as husband and wife like financ- es, family problem and allegedly a third party is involved,” said Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Chief Noli Taliño.

The Boniels are not the first husband and wife to become politicians. In a political setup dominated by political dynasties, the practice of relatives holding on to their turfs is common. Wives replace husbands or sons/daughters replace fathers or mothers for a post. But more often than not the transition is smooth. The thinking is that politicians can rely more on family than political allies.

Niño was a former Bien Unido mayor and had his wife run for the post last year while he sought a higher position. Judging from the information provided by witnesses, both their marital and political relations soured. Gisela supposedly felt that, as mayor, she was being used by her husband and wanted out both from his political position and from their marriage.

The police still have to dig deeper into the incident, but this could be an interesting study on a soured marital relation and bad politics—-and how the mix can be potent.