Police in Central Visayas (PRO-7) started to investigate employees of the resort in Bien Unido where the town’s mayor, Gisela Boniel, was reportedly staying before she was allegedly kidnapped and killed in the wee hours of June 7.

According to PRO-7 director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, it is possible that there was connivance between some employees of the Double Barrier Reef Dive Camp and the suspects in the killing including alleged mastermind Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, the victim’s husband.

Taliño said that he received information indicating that guards of the resort were told to vacate the area on orders of Niño to the establishment’s management.

The absence of forced entry into the room of Gisela and longtime friend Angela Leyson also aroused Taliño’s suspicion.

It is possible that the suspects were given a key to the room, said Taliño.

Charges will be filed against employees who will be proven to have been privy to the crime, added the highest ranking police officer in the region.

Meanwhile, police are currently going after two more suspects who remain at large.

A P100,000 reward was raised and offered to tipsters who could provide information on the whereabouts of the two suspects.

In waters off Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City, search and retrieval operations for the mayor’s body resumed earlier today.

Authorities have already started to use equipment such as an unmanned underwater robot and a sonar site scanner from the Philippine Navy.

The mayor’s body was reportedly wrapped in a fish net together with rocks weighing around 30 kilograms before it was dumped in the area. (Rey Tutas)