Ferdinand Guerrero, one of the four people convicted by a Taguig court of serious illegal detention for ransom of TV host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro, is still at large more than a week after the decision was handed down.

On May 2, the Taguig Regional Trial Court issued a decision, finding Guerrero, Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo and Simeon Palma Raz Jr. guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of serious illegal detention for ransom of Navarro.

Ferdinand Guerrero (Screenshot from ABS-CBN News video released in January 2015 on YouTube)

(From left) Cedric Lee at NBP, and Deniece Cornejo and Simeon Raz at the Taguig Police before they were transferred to CIW and NBP, respectively. (Screenshot from ABS-CBN News video, Taguig Police)

The New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa (Jonathan Hicap)

This happened on Jan. 22, 2014 inside Cornejo’s condominium unit at Forbeswood Heights in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

In 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a case of serious illegal detention against Cornejo, Lee, Raz, Guerrero, Bernice Cua Lee, Jose Paolo Gregorio Calma, and Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh.

In the decision, the Taguig court sentenced Lee, Cornejo, Raz and Guerrero to reclusion perpetua, which carries imprisonment of “twenty years and one day to forty years,” according to the Revised Penal Code.

The court also ordered the four to pay Navarro P100,000 as civil indemnity; P100,000 as moral damages and P100,000 as exemplary damages.

TaguigRTC153A .jpg

The decision of the Tagugi RTC Branch 153 in the serious illegal detention for ransom case

Immediately after the decision was handed down, Cornejo and Raz, who attended the promulgation, were immediately taken into custody by the police.

Cornejo was taken to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong while Raz was escorted by the police to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa.

The court issued warrants of arrest against Lee and Guerrero, who did not attend the hearing.

Lee surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on May 2 and was taken to the NBP on May 3.

However, a week after the decision, Guerrero is still at large. The police have yet to find Guerrero nor has he surrendered to authorities.

Last May 4, Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Guerrero has an active derogatory record.

Tansingco said based on BI records, Guerrero has an active alert list order, stemming from a warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court in Pasig in April 2014.

He said if Guerrero is encountered at any port in the country, he will be turned over to the police.

In addition, Guerrero is under an active immigration lookout bulletin, also issued in 2014.

“So far we have no record of any recent travel. Any future attempts to depart will be stopped as his name is already in our records,” said Tansingco.

Guerrero will serve his sentence at the NBP.

In January 2015, Guerrero was arrested a year after the complaint was filed against him and others.

“I had the means and ways to exit the country sa backdoor. I could but why would I? I want to see this through,” he told the media in 2015, ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol” reported.

Lee, Cornejo and Raz are currently at the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) at NBP and CIW where they will stay for 60 days before they are classified based on security risk.

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