Woman’s body identified, not Mayor Gisela Boniel

The Escalante City Police in Negros Occidental identified the woman found floating in the waters of Maravilla, Tabuelan, Cebu as one of their residents, not Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel of Bien Unido town in Bohol.

Chief Inspector Rollie Pondevilla, head of the Escalante police, said that the body was that of 63-year-old Laurita Cabag, a farmer who hailed from Barangay Cambayugo Banwa, Calatrava, Negros Occidental.

“She went missing last June 30 after she went farming. The victim drowned when she was trying to cross the river and was washed away onto the open sea,” Pondevilla said.

Gisela’s family rushed to Escalante to check the body, after learning of the discovery by a fish- erman last Saturday.

Also present were Cabag’s family members who confirmed that it was their relative, according to her build and a birthmark.

“Aside from the fingerprint that our Scene of the Crime operatives took from the body, family members of Cabag and the Bendongs were also there to inspect,” the police official said.

The body didn’t also bear any indications of an external wound like a gunshot, which was believed to have killed Gisela allegedly in the hands of her husband, Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel.

Niño Rey, who has been charged with a parricide case, is now detained at the Talibon District Jail in Talibon, Bohol while waiting trial.

SPO1 Jojit Ruiz, chief investigator of the Escalante Police Station, in an earlier interview, described the body as naked except for a pair of underwear, and it was already in a state of decomposition.

Last June 30, the Calatrava Police received a report that someone had drowned and conducted a search and rescue operation, but it proved futile.

The next day, fisherman Remigio Dela Cruz reported to the Escalante Police a dead body floating in the waters of Tabuelan, and they alerted the Bantay Dagat who brought this to the city.

Gisela was allegedly kidnapped, killed and dumped at dawn last June 7 in the waters of Caubian Island in Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City.

A DNA sample taken from the bloodied banca, which was compared with Gisela’s mother and the results are set to be released today or tomorrow by the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7.