The Taguig City regional trial court (RTC) on Thursday, Jan. 12, affirmed its order that granted bail to television host Ferdinand “Vhong” H. Navarro on the rape case filed against him by model Deniece Millinete Cornejo.
In an order issued by Judge Loralie Cruz Datahan, the RTC denied “for lack of merit” Cornejo’s motion to reconsider the grant of bail to Navarro.
Judge Datahan said Cornejo’s motion “deserves scant consideration from this court.”
Also denied by the RTC was Cornejo’s motion to inhibit Judge Datahan from handling the rape case.
On Dec. 5, 2022, Judge Datahan issued an order that granted the petition for bail of Navarro who was subsequently released on a P1 million bail.
Cornejo filed a motion to recall the grant of bail.
In resolving the motion, the RTC said that “at the outset, a perusal of the instant motion readily reveals the absence of any conformity from the Office of the City Prosecutor of Taguig City (OCP-Taguig).”
“Time and again, the Supreme Court (SC) has emphasized that criminal actions shall be prosecuted under the direction and control of the prosecutor,” Judge Datahan said.
Citing a decision handed down by the SC, the judge said: “All criminal actions commenced by a complaint or information shall be prosecuted under the direction and control of the prosecutor.”
The judge also cited another SC ruling which stressed that the conformity of the public prosecutor was not a mere superfluity and was necessary to pursue a criminal action.”
She said that based on the SC ruling, “a private party does not have the legal personality to prosecute the criminal aspect of a case, as it is the People of the Philippines who are the real party in interest. The criminal case must be under the direction and control of the public prosecutor.”
Thus, she pointed out that the SC stressed that “when the public prosecutor does not give his or her conformity to the pleading of a party, the party does not have the required legal personality to pursue the case.”
TAGS: #Vhong Navarro #Deniece Cornejo #RTC Judge Datahan #Rape