(UPDATED) Nearly five years after Bien Unido, Bohol Mayor Gisela Boniel was slain, her husband pleaded guilty in court for her killing.

Niño Rey Boniel, a former Bohol provincial board member, and four others admitted involvement in the slaying of the town mayor before the Regional Trial Court Branch 70 in Lapu-Lapu City on Tuesday.

Niño submitted his guilty plea in the homicide case against him through a plea bargaining agreement with state prosecutors, officials said.

According to Virgil Ligutan, a private prosecutor, Niño was sentenced to eight years and 1 day to 14 years imprisonment.

However, he is still facing separate cases of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

“Justice has been served,” said Ligutan.

Roilito Boniel, a cousin of Niño, earlier testified that he saw the former board member shoot the victim in the head before they dumped her body in the waters off Cuabian Island in Cebu.

• Witness pins Bohol town mayor's husband in Boniel slay

In 2018, a senior official of the Department of Justice ordered the withdrawal of parricide charges against Niño. But after a backlash, then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre signed a resolution that overturned the withdrawal.

— Report from John DX Lapid

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