A Taguig court held on Nov. 10 the last hearing on the petition for bail of TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro, who is accused of raping model Deniece Cornejo in 2014.
After five hearings, the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 will now decide whether or not to grant Navarro bail, which he is seeking for his provisional liberty from detention.
Navarro has been detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Detention Center in Manila after the Taguig RTC Branch 69 issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him on Sept. 19 for the rape case filed by Cornejo.
Cornejo returned to court on the last day of the hearing to resume her testimony against Navarro for his bail. She first testified on Nov. 7 as the prosecution’s third witness who was able to appear in court.
The camp of Cornejo scheduled five witnesses to be presented but two of them failed to appear.
Jed Fernandez was supposed to be the Cornejo camp’s fifth witness in the bail hearing but did not show up.
Cornejo, Fernandez and Cedric Lee were convicted by a Taguig court in 2018 for grave coercion related to the mauling of Navarro in 2014.
During the hearing on Nov. 10, Cornejo was questioned in court by the lawyer of Navarro.
“Natuloy yung cross examination natin kay Deniece Cornejo. Nagre-direct si Atty. Calleja. Tapos nagtapos tayo dun sa re-cross ni Deniece. So tapos na. (We continued with the cross examination of Deniece Cornejo. Atty. Calleja conducted a re-direct . Then we ended with a re-cross of Deniece. It is now finished),” said Alma Mallonga, Navarro’s legal counsel.
Mallonga said they and Cornejo’s camp will submit evidence to the court, after which the court will rule on Navarro’s petition for bail.
Navarro was charged with rape and acts of lasciviousness in court last August by the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office after the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled in Cornejo’s favor in the review of her cases. The CA ordered the prosecutor’s office to file the two cases against Navarro.
The information filed by the prosecutor’s office with the Taguig court stated that on Jan. 17, 2014, Navarro “through force, threat and intimidation, and by purposely intoxicating the victim, did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have carnal knowledge with one Deniece Millinete Cornejo.”
In 2014, prosecutors and the Department of Justice dismissed the rape complaints filed by Cornejo. She elevated her case to the CA.
Navarro was arraigned for the rape case at the Taguig RTC Branch 69 on Oct. 11. He did not appear in person in court but through videoconferencing, which was approved by the court. He also attended the bail hearings remotely.
Cornejo’s camp first presented Lee as its first witness in the bail hearing on Oct. 13. He was followed by Master Sgt. Rolly Laureto who testified on Oct. 17.
On Jan. 22, 2014, Laureto was one of the police officers who were 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 third bail hearing was held on Oct. 25 but the Cornejo camp’s third witness failed to show up. Cornejo became the witness on Nov. 7 and 10.
“We are trying very hard to make sure, based on the evidence and the law, na ma-release sana si Mr. Navarro (that Mr. Navarro can be released),” said Mallonga.