A Taguig court convicted businessman Cedric Lee, model Deniece Cornejo and two others in a case for serious illegal detention for ransom filed by TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro.
(From left) Deniece Cornejo, Vhong Navarro in a hospital in 2014, and Cedric Lee (Jonathan Hicap, Navarro's screenshot from Buzz ng Bayan/ABS-CBN)
During the promulgation on May 2, the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 153 found Lee, Cornejo, Simeon Palma Raz Jr. and Ferdinand Guerrero guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced them to reclusion perpetua
Reclusion perpetua imposes imprisonment of 20 years and one day to a maximum of 40 years.
Under Article 27 of the Revised Penal Code on reclusion perpetua, “Any person sentenced to any of the perpetual penalties shall be pardoned after undergoing the penalty for thirty years, unless such person by reason of his conduct or some other serious cause shall be considered by the Chief Executive as unworthy of pardon.”
“Wherefore, premises considered, this court hereby finds accused Deniece Millinette Cornejo, Cedric Lee, Ferdinand Guerrero And Simeon Palma Raz, guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of serious illegal detention for ransom, defined and punished under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended; and hereby sentences them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua,” Taguig RTC Branch 153 Presiding Judge Mariam Bien wrote in the decision.
The court also ordered the accused to pay Navarro P100,000 as civil indemnity; P100,000 as moral damages and P100,000 as exemplary damages.
“All monetary awards shall earn legal interest rate of 6% per annum from the finality of this Judgment until fully paid. The bailbond / cashbonds posted by them are hereby cancelled,” the court ordered.
Guilty beyond reasonable doubt
In the decision, the court said that “it is all too apparent that the accused planned and premeditated to restrain Vhong Navarro to extort money from him. Proof of their agreement is inferred from their conduct before, during and after the commission of the crime disclosing a common understanding between them relative to its commission.”
“In other words, the combined acts of the acts culminated in one grand act of illegally detaining Navarro and inflicting upon him serious physical injuries, and demanding money from the latter. It is very unusual that the accused gathered in one place, with a police officer, a few hours before the intended meet up of Deniece Cornejo and Vhong Navarro,” the court said.
It added, “Notably, at first, the accused concealed the fact of their meeting in Ritz Towers and eventually, after seeing the CCTV footage from Ritz Towers, the accused supplemented their counter-affidavits and changed their testimonies.”
“To reiterate, the accused cannot rectify the errors in their counter-affidavits and the blotter after having been shown the evidence of the prosecution. Instead of giving Deniece Cornejo advise about the alleged rape on January 17, 2014, the accused planned the whole act of restraining Vhong Navarro. To the mind of this Court, the alleged rape and meet up of Vhong Navarro and Deniece Cornejo on January 17, 2014 was also part of the accused scheme,” the court said.
It said, “The acts of the accused point to a joint purpose and design, concerted action and community of interest.”
“Deniece Cornejo lured Vhong Navarro to her condo unit so that his co-accused attained their purpose of restraining Vhong Navarro and later on extort money from Vhong before dropping the blotter. Also her BDO bank account was seen in the text message of Cedric to Vhong, which used where to send the extorted money,” according to the decision.
It added, “The acts of Deniece Cornejo, Cedric Lee, Zimmer Raz and Ferdinand Guerrero, when taken together, reveal that they acted in concert with one another and that their acts emanated from the same purpose or common design showing unity in its execution.”
“Indeed, when it is proved that two or more persons aimed by their acts towards the accomplishment of the same unlawful object, each doing a part so that their combined acts, though apparently independent, were in fact connected and cooperative, indicating a closeness of personal association and a concurrence of sentiment, a conspiracy could be inferred although no actual meeting among them is proved. In light of the foregoing, this court finds that the prosecution proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” the court said.
Cornejo and Raz attended the promulgation and were immediately taken into custody. The court issued warrants of arrest against Lee and Guerrero who did not attend the promulgation.
The court ordered those found guilty to pay P300,000 in damages to Navarro.
Navarro’s lawyer, Alma Mallonga, said the TV host is thankful that he has achieved justice, the report stated. Navarro did not attend the promulgation.
In 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a case of serious illegal detention against Lee, Cornejo, Raz, Guerrero, Bernice Cua Lee, Jose Paolo Gregorio Calma and Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh.
The case charged that the seven accused detained Navarro inside Cornejo’s condominium unit in Taguig on Jan. 22, 2014 where he was beaten up. The respondents allegedly demanded P2 million from Navarro.
In 2022, the Court of Appeals (CA) denied Lee’s bid to dismiss the serious illegal detention case.
This is the latest victory for Navarro. In March last year, the Supreme Court dismissed the cases of rape and acts of lasciviousness filed by Cornejo against Navarro.
In a decision promulgated on Feb. 8, 2023, the Supreme Court granted Navarro’s petition for review on certiorari, questioning the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) in July and September 2022 that led to the filing of the rape and acts of lasciviousness cases against him before the Taguig courts.
In granting the petition, the Supreme Court reversed the rulings of the Court of Appeals.
It also ruled that “Accordingly, the Court dismisses the following Informations against Ferdinand ‘Vhong’ H. Navarro for lack of probable cause: (a) Rape by Sexual Intercourse under paragraph 1, Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353, in NPS Docket No. XVI-INV-16E-00174 pending before Branch 69, Regional Trial Court, Taguig City; and (b) Acts of Lasciviousness under Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code in NPS Docket No.XVI-INV-15J-00815 pending before Branch 116, Metropolitan Trial Court, Taguig City. So ordered.”
Navarro was accused of raping Cornejo on Jan. 17, 2014 inside her condominium unit in Taguig.
Before the dismissal of the cases, Navarro was detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention center and Taguig City Jail Male Dormitory when a Taguig court issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him for rape on Sept. 19, 2022.
The Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 granted his petition for bail. He was released from the Taguig City Jail Male Dormitory on Dec. 6, 2022 after posting P1 million bail set by the court.