DOJ CREATES PANEL FOR BONIEL CASE

They will prosecute the cases against Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel and his co-accused, under the DOJ chief’s direct supervision

The Department of Justice has created a panel of prosecutors that will handle the kidnapping and serious illegal detention cases against Bohol Provincial Board (PB) Member Niño Rey Boniel and his two alleged cohorts.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara named the four prosecutors who will prosecute the cases pending before Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan of the Regional Trial Court Branch 7. They are Prosecutors Richard Anthony Fadullon, Juan Pedro Navera, Llena Ipong-Avila, and Maria Lourdes Quiletorio.

The prosecutors will “actively prosecute” the cases under the “direct control and supervision” of the justice secretary and the prosecutor general.

The creation of the panel is meant to serve the “interest of the public.”

Boniel’s arraignment and pre-trial of his kinapping and serious illegal detention cases is set on May 28, 2018.

The case stemmed from the kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed by Angela Gamalinda-Leyson and her 17-year-old son against Niño before the City Prosecutor’s Office.

Leyson charged Niño after she and her 17-year-old son were allegedly held by him and his men in the Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp last June 7, 2017.

Mayor Gisela Boniel was allegedly shot and killed by her husband, Niño, last June 7. Her body was allegedly thrown off Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City.

Prosecutor Aida Digaum-Langcamon indicted Niño for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

The cases were transferred to Cebu after the Supreme Court en banc approved the request of resigned Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre and the camp of the late Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel to have the cases moved from Bohol to Cebu.

Mayor Gisela’s camp is offering a P200, 000 reward to anyone who could provide information to authorities that would lead to the arrest of the board member’s co-accused, Lobo Boniel and Allan delos Reyes, Jr.

The accused, who remain at large, stand trial for murder along with Boniel and four others before Regional Trial Court in Cebu City.

The panel of prosecutors also charged Boniel’s alleged cohorts – delos Reyes, Jr., Lobo Boniel, Wilfredo Hoylar, Jr., Randel Lupas, Restituto Magoncia, Jr. and Riolito “Etad” Boniel – with murder before the Regional Trial Court.