DOJ reverses parricide indictment of Bohol Board Member ‘In-In’ Boniel

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had dropped the criminal charges filed against Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey "In-In" Boniel, the prime suspect in the abduction and killing of his wife Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel.

In an 11-page resolution dated March 22, 2018 signed by Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo, the DOJ reversed and set aside the resolution filed June of last year by Office of the City Prosecutor of Lapu-Lapu City, which indicted Board Member Boniel of parricide.

The decision also ordered the withdrawal of murder charges against his alleged conspirators, Willy Hoylar and Restituto Magoncia Jr.

The DOJ had granted the petition for review filed by the accused which said the prosecutors of Lapu-Lapu City erroneously concluded that probable cause existed.

The Justice Department also agreed with the respondent-appellant's claim that prosecutors erred in concluding that the city's prosecutor's office had jurisdiction over the crime and that parricide needed to be filed separately from the crime of serious illegal detention.

Mayor Boniel's friend, Angela Leyson, had filed kidnapping ang illegal detention complaints against Rey Boniel last year, claiming that she witnessed the abduction of her friend. 

Authorities said her body was dumped in the sea off Lapu-Lapu City.

‘Wrong signal’

The family of Gisela Boniel were disappointed with the resolution signed by Undersecretary Orceo, noting they had sought the help of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II who created a DOJ panel to prosecute the parricide case.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the family's counsel, Amando Ligutan, said the latest resolution sent a "wrong signal" not only to the family but also to the public at large.

"The family hopes that the DOJ will rectify itself on the matter the soonest possible time," Ligutan urged

The victim's camp pointed out that the resolution only said that the parricide case should be "complexed" with the pending serious illegal detention case.

Ligutan further argued that the DOJ resolution did not conclude that there was no probable cause behind the parricide charge against Board Member Niño Boniel.

"The latest resolution is a temporary setback to the prosecution of the criminal charges for the brutal killing of former Bien Unido Mayor Gisela B. Boniel," Ligutan asserted. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News