Detained “It’s Showtime” host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro will be spending his first Christmas and New Year in jail.
This will happen if the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 does not issue a favorable decision on his bail petition or if a favorable ruling comes out next year.
Navarro is currently a person deprived of liberty (PDL) at the Taguig City Jail Male Dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig where he was transferred on Nov. 21 from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Detention Center in Manila, which served as his detention facility since Sept. 20.
The 45-year-old star is detained for a rape case filed by model Deniece Cornejo which allegedly happened on Jan. 17, 2014 inside her condominium unit in Taguig.
The Taguig RTC Branch 69, which is handling the rape case, finished the hearings for Navarro’s bail petition on Nov. 10 but has yet to issue a ruling. The court issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest for rape against him on Sept. 19.
The camp of Navarro is hoping that the court will grant him bail that will allow him to be released from the Taguig jail and will be under provisional liberty while the case is ongoing.
If the court rejects his petition for bail, Navarro will stay in jail while his rape trial is being conducted.
Navarro finished his seven-day Covid-19 quarantine at the Taguig City Jail on Nov. 28 and is currently in a cell with other PDLs.
He earlier filed an urgent motion with the Taguig court seeking his continued detention at the NBI due to alleged threats to his life. However, the Taguig court denied his request in a decision on Sept. 29.