Model Deniece Cornejo testified against detained TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro at his bail hearing in a Taguig court on Nov. 7.
Cornejo and his lawyer, Howard Calleja, arrived at the Taguig Hall of Justice at about 1:20 p.m. for the 1:30 p.m. bail hearing at the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69.
Dressed in white blouse and black pants, Deniece quietly entered the building without talking to the media.
Cornejo was the prosecution’s third witness to appear in court for the bail hearing. The original third witness did not show up in the last hearing on Oct. 25.
Navarro is facing two cases for rape and acts of lasciviousness, both filed by Cornejo. She accused Navarro of raping her in her condominium unit in Taguig on Jan. 17, 2014. The acts of lasciviousness allegedly happened on Jan. 22, 2014.
Navarro filed a petition for bail for his provisional liberty after Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69, which is hearing his rape case, issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him for rape on Sept. 19.
He is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Detention Center in Manila.
Calleja said Cornejo’s testimony in court was not finished and she will come back to testify again on Nov. 10.
“Hindi pa tapos. May November 10 pa kami so tuloy pa (It’s not yet finished. We still have November 10 so it will continue),” said Calleja.
Cornejo’s cross examination by Navarro’s camp
During her testimony in court, Cornejo was cross-examined by the defense led by lawyer Alma Mallonga, Navarro’s legal counsel.
“We were able to cross examine Deniece. Hindi natapos ‘yung cross examination (The cross examination was not finished). We will continue with the cross examination on November 10, which is the last day for the prosecution to present its evidence,” said Mallonga.
She added, “We have prepared hard. We will continue to work hard. The truth will come out, we hope, through cross-examination made upon Miss Deniece Cornejo. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It’s all up to the judge at this point. We are doing everything as I have said.”
“We will show all the evidence necessary in order to show Mr. Vhong Navarro is entitled to bail,” said Mallonga.
During the cross-examination, she said, “we tried our best to bring out the truth in accordance with what actually happened.”
Besides Cornejo, the prosecution is set to present Jed Fernandez.
Cornejo, Fernandez and Cedric Lee were convicted by a Taguig court in 2018 for grave coercion related to the mauling of Navarro in 2014.
Mallonga said after the bail hearing on Nov. 10, the Taguig court will come up with its decision whether or not to grant bail to Navarro.
Cornejo accused Navarro of allegedly raping her in her condominium on Jan. 17, 2014, which he denied.
Navarro and Cornejo did not meet in person in court. He attended the bail hearing via videoconferencing, which was previously approved by the Taguig court.
Navarro voluntarily surrendered to the NBI in Quezon City on Sept. 19 when a warrant of arrest for the case of acts of lasciviousness, another case which Cornejo filed, was issued by the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116, which set his bail at P36,000.
However, the non-bailable warrant of arrest came out in the afternoon of the same date. He was transferred to NBI Manila the following day.
In Navarro’s bail hearing, the Cornejo camp needs to prove that the evidence of guilt is strong against him.
Lee was Cornejo camp’s first witness in the first bail hearing on Oct. 13. He was followed by Master Sgt. Rolly Laureto, who testified on Oct. 17.