Detained TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro is doing fine at the Taguig City Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa.
Navarro was transferred to the Taguig City Jail on Nov. 21 from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Detention Center in Manila, which served as his detention facility since Sept. 20.
He is now on his third day at the jail facility which has 993 persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
“OK naman. Under quarantine pa rin sya up to now (He is okay. He is under quarantine up to now),” said lawyer Mariglen Abraham-Garduque, Navarro’s collaborating counsel.
Upon his arrival at the Taguig City Jail, Navarro underwent a medical exam to determine his health status.
He has been placed under quarantine in compliance with Covid-19 health protocols. As a fully vaccinated person, Navarro will be under quarantine from five to seven days based on the rules.
Under BJMP rules, Navarro is required to wear the prescribed uniform of a yellow t-shirt printed with the words “Taguig City Jail PDL person deprived of liberty” on the back and “BJMP Changing Lives, Building a Safer Nation” in front, and brown jogging pants with yellow piping.
The Taguig City Jail will assess if there is any security threat to Navarro inside the jail facility and determine what will be his impact if he is detained together with the other PDLs.
Navarro is accused of raping model Deniece Cornejo on Jan. 17, 2014 inside her condominium unit in Taguig.
The Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest for the rape case against him on Sept. 19.
Navarro filed an urgent motion with the Taguig court seeking his continued detention at the NBI due to alleged threats to his life.
In a decision on Sept. 29, the Taguig court denied his request. His stay at the NBI, the court decision stated, “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.”
Navarro 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.”
Navarro filed a petition for bail in the rape case, seeking for his provisional liberty. The court finished all the bail hearings and is expected to issue a decision soon.