Today, Oct. 19, TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro is now one month in detention for the rape case filed by model Deniece Cornejo.
Navarro was charged in a Taguig court in August for allegedly raping Cornejo in her condominium in the city on Jan. 17, 2014.
On Sept. 19, Navarro surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Quezon City after the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116 issued a warrant of arrest with bail of P36,000 for the case of acts of lasciviousness.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Navarro for rape. He was taken into custody by the NBI and transferred to the NBI Detention Center in Manila the following day.
During his arraignment on Oct. 11, his lawyer, Alma Mallonga, said Navarro’s “emotional state is not as good as we wanted it to be. But I am happy to say that he remains strong, he is doing his best to remain positive and the fighting spirit is actually there. Walang iwanan, laban lang.”
The Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office filed a case of rape under Republic Act 8353 against Navarro on Aug. 31 this year with the Taguig Regional Trial Court.
“That on or about the 17th of January 2014 in the City of Taguig, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, above-named accused , through force, threat and intimidation, and by purposely intoxicating the victim, did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have carnal knowledge with one Deniece Millinete Cornejo,” according to the information filed with the court.
The prosecutor’s office also filed a case of acts of lasciviousness against Navarro based on the complaint of Cornejo.
The two cases were filed based on the order of the Court of Appeals (CA) in a decision promulgated last July 21, which granted Cornejo’s petition for review of her complaints.
The CA ordered the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office “to file Informations against Ferdinand ‘Vhong’ H. Navarro for: (1) Rape by Sexual Intercourse under Article 266-A (1) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353; and (2) Acts of Lasciviousness under Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code.”
It also overturned the DOJ resolutions issued on April 30, 2018 and July 14, 2020, which dismissed the complaints of rape against Navarro.
Under RA 8353 or the The Anti-Rape Law of 1997, rape by sexual intercourse “shall be punished by reclusion perpetua,” which carries a penalty of imprisonment from 20 to 40 years.
In 2014 and 2015, according to the CA decision, Cornejo filed three complaints of rape and attempted rape against Navarro before the Taguig prosecutor’s office.
The first two complaints for rape were dismissed by the prosecutor's office while the third complaint for rape and attempted rape was dismissed by the Office of the Prosecutor General “for want of probable cause.”
Cornejo elevated the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which, in 2018, denied her petition for review. She filed a motion for reconsideration in June 2018 but it was denied by the DOJ in July 2020.
She went to the CA seeking to overturn the DOJ resolutions dismissing her complaints.
The CA ruled in July that “ultimately, it falls upon the trial court to determine who between Navarro and Cornejo speaks the truth.”
The rape and acts of lasciviousness cases were raffled off to two Taguig courts. RTC Branch 69 was assigned the rape case while the MeTC Branch 116 took the acts of lasciviousness case.
The Taguig RTC Branch 69 allowed Navarro to appear at his arraignment on Oct. 11 via videoconferencing due to the threat of Covid-19.
He refused to enter a plea, prompting the court to enter a not guilty plea for him based on the Rules on Criminal Procedure.
Mallonga said Navarro did not enter a plea because they have a pending petition with the Supreme Court regarding the case.
Outside the courthouse on Oct. 11, a relative of Cornejo urged her and Navarro to settle the cases they filed against each other and move on.
Lawyer Axel Gonzalez, who identified himself as the cousin of Cornejo’s grandmother and the spokesperson of the family, said, “But as a lawyer, dapat, pareho silang may career, i-settle na nila ang problema. Because may rape si Deniece kay Vhong, si Vhong naman may serious illegal detention sa kanila (But as a lawyer, they should, since they both have careers, settle the problem. Because Deniece has a rape against Vhong, and Vhong has serious illegal detention against them).”
Navarro filed a petition for bail, seeking for his provisional liberty from the custody of authorities.
In the first bail hearing on Oct. 13, Cedric Lee was presented by Cornejo’s camp as the first witness.
In the second bail hearing on Oct. 17, Master Sgt. Rolly Laureto was presented as a second witness by Cornejo’s camp.
On Jan. 22, 2014, Laureto was one of the police officers present at the Southern Police District headquarters when a badly beaten Navarro signed a police blotter allegedly admitting that he raped Cornejo in her condominium in Taguig.
The issue on Navarro's transfer to the Taguig City Jail is pending with the court. In an order last Sept. 29, the Taguig RTC Branch 69 denied Navarro's request for his continued detention at the NBI for "lack of merit."
However, the Taguig court has yet to issue an order about his transfer to the city jail.
The next bail hearing is set on Oct. 25.
The next bail hearing is set on Oct. 25.