Edgar Tapere, a driver of Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel, said that he fetched the Bohol legislator on board a motorcycle in Brgy. Punta Engaño, Cebu City on June 7, the day of Mayor Gisela Boniel’s alleged murder.

Tapere who surrendered to Cebu authorities on Monday told Central Visayas police director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño that he was unaware of Niño’s activities prior to meeting him.

Niño’s driver in Cebu said that he was used to fetching the board member in Pier 3 in Cebu City whenever he arrived from Bohol.

Tapere reportedly drove Niño to his house in Monterrazas in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

Before the board member left for Bohol, he then reportedly asked Tapere to dispose of items which appeared to be clothes.

Meanwhile, Regional Intelligence Division chief Sr. Supt. Jonathan Cabal, in an interview with station DYLA, said that Tapere claimed that he was given P60,000 by the board member and was directed to wire the amount to Randel Lupas.

Lupas is also a driver of Niño.

Based on a statement of Lupas, it was confirmed that the said amount was divided between Willy Hoylar and Brian Sayson.

Both Hoylar and Sayson who had been tagged by police as suspects had presented themselves before authorities to clear their names of any involvement in the mayor’s alleged killing.

Meanwhile, Niño had tested negative of gunpowder burns as indicated by results of a paraffin test conducted on the board member a day after he allegedly shot Gisela.

However, Taliño downplayed possible implications of the test result as he noted that there may have been other factors which caused the failure to trace gunpowder residue on the board member’s hands.

He told media that wind might have blown the gunpowder away or the board member washed his hands while at sea. (A. Doydora)