A Taguig court has ordered the transfer of TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro to the Taguig City Jail.
Navarro is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Detention Center in Manila for the rape case filed by model Deniece Cornejo.
The commitment order was issued by the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69, which is handling Navarro’s rape case.
Mariglen Abraham-Garduque, Navarro’s collaborating counsel, told Manila Bulletin that the commitment order is separate from the petition for bail that the TV host filed seeking his provisional liberty.
The Taguig court has yet to issue a decision on whether or not to grant Navarro bail. If the court grants bail to Navarro, he will be released from the Taguig City Jail.
“The petition for bail has just been submitted for the resolution of the court. The court has not issued its resolution yet. In the event the petition for bail is granted, then the court will issue the order directing the warden of Taguig City Jail to release Vhong. We are still awaiting for the resolution of the court on our petition for bail,” said Abraham-Garduque.
Navarro’s lawyers will accompany him when he is transferred to the Taguig City Jail.
Last Sept. 29, Presiding Judge Loralie Cruz-Datahan of the Taguig RTC Branch 29 issued an order denying Navarro’s urgent motion for the NBI to retain his custody.
The court issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Navarro on Sept. 19 for rape that he allegedly committed against Cornejo on Jan. 17, 2014. He surrendered to the NBI on the same day and was transferred to the NBI Detention Center in Manila the following day.
“After a thorough consideration of the arguments of both the prosecution and the defense, the Court finds that accused was not able to justify the need for his continued detention at the NBI facility,” the Taguig court ruled.
The decision stated that “it must also be emphasized that the city jail is mandated to exercise great care so that the human rights of the prisoners are respected and protected. Thus, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the presumption of regularity in the performance of duties by the jail personnel prevails.”
“Wherefore, premises considered, the Urgent Motion for the National Bureau of Investigation to Retain Custody Over the Person of the Accused is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the court ruled.
Navarro filed a petition for bail with the Taguig court. The hearings for the bail petition ended on Nov. 10 after the prosecution was able to present three out of its five witnesses including Cornejo and Cedric Lee. The Taguig court has yet to rule on whether or not to grant bail to Navarro for his provisional liberty.
Before the court’s denial came, the camp of Cornejo filed a motion asking the Taguig court to immediately transfer Navarro to the Taguig City Jail, saying he “should not be treated any differently.”
The Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office filed cases for rape and acts of lasciviousness against Navarro in August based on the complaints of Cornejo.
The Court of Appeals (CA) ordered the prosecutor’s office to file the cases against the TV host in a decision in July that ruled in favor of Cornejo’s request to review the complaints she filed against him.
In his request, which was filed with the court on Sept. 20, Navarro cited several reasons for his continued stay at the NBI Detention Center.
Navarro told the court that his voluntary surrender to the NBI on Sept. 19 for the first warrant of arrest for acts of lasciviousness and his decision to stay at the agency after the non-bailable warrant of arrest was issued “was prompted by legitimate fears for his safety and for his life as intense animosity exists between him and the private complainant and her friends.”
He said his wife, Tanya Winona Bautista, received a text from an unknown person with the message, "Pasabi diyan sa Asawa mong rapist Mr. Suabi, nag aantay kami Dito sa Taguig, pakibilisan (Tell your husband, rapist Mr. Suabi that we are waiting here in Taguig, please hurry up).”
“Accused insists that the above-quoted message should be treated not as a mere taunt, but as a real and actual threat which endangers his life and security. In addition, private complainant Deniece Millinette Cornejo, as well as Cedric Cua Lee, Zimmer Raz, and Ferdinand Guerrero, were all previously detained in Taguig City Jail before bail was granted for the crime of Serious Illegal Detention and it is likely that they have formed connections and allegiances with gangs inside the Taguig City Jail,” according to the court decision.
The court stated that “while accused would want this Court to believe his legitimate fears for his life and security, he. however, fell short of substantiating the same.”
“The SMS message allegedly received by the accused's wife could not be given credence. First, the motion did not attach proof of the SMS message; and second, the said message, on its own could be interpreted in so many different ways, not necessarily as a threat to the life and security of the accused. Moreover, the rest of the allegations in the instant motion, are utterly wanting in factual basis,” the court said in denying Navarro’s request.
Navarro has repeatedly denied that he raped Cornejo.