The Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) which is overseeing search operations for the body of Mayor Gisela Boniel appealed yesterday for assistance from the US Navy after the foreign forces arrived in Cebu on Monday for a joint maritime training with their Philippine counterpart.

LCPO chief Sr. Supt. Romel Cabagnot said that he coursed his request for equipment that would hasten efforts to locate Boniel’s remains to US Navy sailors who accompanied local police during search and retrieval operations in waters off Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City.

Cagagnot said that the US Navy has modern technologies such as a remotely operated underwater vehicle which could boost search capabilities of the local authorities.

For his part, Chief Inspector Jacinto Mandal who is leading the police’s search team expressed optimism that they would soon find the mayor’s body.

“Samtang nagkadugay, nagkaduol usab ang tsansa nga makit-an ang lawas sa mayora,” said Mandal.

The police officer’s statement came after they came across a blanket which is suspected of having been used to wrap Boniel’s body before she was allegedly shot and killed.

However, the blanket was still submitted to a crime laboratory in Cebu City to verify if the smudges on the item were Boniel’s blood or just dirt.

While Randel Lupas, the driver of Board Member Nino Rey Boniel, the primary suspect in Gisela’s murder, had noted that it was not the blanket used to wrap the mayor’s body. (A. Doydora)