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2017 News
Rule of law must prevail, says
guv of tragic event in B-Unido

As police probers and volunteer sea divers are still scrambling to search for the dead body of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel, the father of the province of Bohol, still reeling from shock, has made it clear that no one is above the law.
Bohol Governor Edgar M. Chatto yesterday said the rule of law will prevail in the wake of the crisis that has rocked the leadership of Bien Unido and affected the province.
First term Provincial Board Member Rey Niño Boniel of the Second District has been accused as the mastermind of the abduction and brutal killing of his own wife, Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel.

As investigation continues, Chatto appealed to the officials and people of Bien Unido to “keep calm and be united in prayer.”
The apparent domestic family problem should not at all affect the momentum of the governance of the municipality and the collaboration of the local government unit and the people, the governor said.

Chatto adviced Acting Mayor Rene Borinaga, who is the incumbent vice mayor, to assume the town leadership and “be strong” while enjoining the whole local officialdom and populace to offer prayers for the Boniels.

The governor invited Vice Gov. Dionisio Balite and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to a meeting at the Governor’s Mansion to show support to the provincial board.

With the capitol legislators, the provincial chief executive will have ensured that no services under the committee of Boniel are prejudiced while the case against him is in progress.
The composition of the SP, which is the province’s highest policy-making body, will not be affected by the Boniel case, Chatto said.

This he stated in response to a media query during his weekly forum with the press on Friday if a vacancy has been created in the provincial legislature and how replacement is to be done.
There is still an SP quorumeven with the absence of Boniel, said Chatto who is himself a former SP presiding officer when he was vice governor.

He said that right now, the vacancy is only considered temporary by rule of law.

The rules are clear should, for any reason, the vacancy become permanent, Chatto said.

The governor said that will be the only time when the rules on replacement due to the permanent vacancy have to apply.
Under Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, the replacement of a permanent vacancy in the SP membership is only done thru the appointment by the president.
Meanwhile, Chatto led all Bohol mayors in prayer for the Boniel family during the fellowship night of the Local Government Leadership Training for Mayors at the Bellevue Resort in Panglao Thursday.

The training was jointly sponsored by the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), Bohol Chapter led by its president, Clarin Mayor Allen Rey Piezas, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and provincial government.
The lady mayor of Bien Unido had registered to attend the important activity until her violent death in a murder which, according to police investigation, was masterminded by her own husband.

The governor was shocked and at first in total disbelief when he heard the “bad, unwanted news.”

He considered as “strong leaders” the Boniel couple, even described by their town constituents as a “power couple oftwo lovely, beautiful people.”

With the DILG, the governor assured the people of Bien Unido of full support from the province as they themselves partner with the government for the good of their place, their own welfare.

MAYORS PRAYFOR ‘THE PILOT’
Meanwhile, Chatto said the mayors’ meeting was opened with a prayer for the “Boniel couple,” one of them---the wife, a mayor---was herself an aviation professional.

Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel was to attend the meeting if not shot dead and dumped to the sea off Mactan island in Cebu in a cold-blooded murder implicating her own husband, Board Member Rey Niño Boniel, Wednesday dawn.

The lady mayor was a former Airasia pilot holding the rank of a captain.

On June 7, 2016, the wife Boniel, then already a proclaimed mayor, was commended by the AirAsia for piloting back to Cebu for safe landing a Manila-bound commercial plane in February of the same year.

“The aircraft necessitated a precautionary engine No. 2 shutdown due to oil leak and, through her outstanding airmanship, the flight safely landed back in Cebu,” her commendation reads.

Exactly a year on June 7, 2017, the pilot-mayor was killed by her husband, the police said.

She did not see realized a plan to relocate a Cebu private aviation school to Bien Unido, where the proponent developer would also build an air park to serve tourism at the same time.
Under the seawater off Bien Unido is a grotto of the Virgin Mary which has been attracting tourists.

Below the sea, the search and retrieval operation for the mayor’s dead body continued as of presstime. (Ven C. Arigo)


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