Taguig City judge issues arrest warrant vs Vhong Navarro ‘for acts of lasciviousness’
ATAGUIG court ordered on Monday the arrest of comedian and television host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro after finding probable cause to put him on trial for acts of lasciviousness charges filed by model Deniece Cornejo.
Navarro immediately surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), but evaded detention after posting a bail of P36,000 through his legal counsel Alma Mallonga.
“After personally evaluating and taking into consideration the information filed in the above-entitled case, as well as the allegations in the complaint-affidavit executed by the offended party, which are all under oath, together with the supporting documents attached thereon, the Court finds that there is probable cause to hold the accused for trial,” Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116 Presiding Judge Angela Francesca Din said in a resolution.
“As probable cause exists to hold the accused for trial, let a warrant of arrest be issued against Ferdinand ‘Vhong’ Navarro,” it added.
It can be recalled that last July 21, 2022, the Court of Appeals’ (CA) Fourteenth Division reversed and set aside the April 30, 2018 and July 14, 2020 resolutions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissing the complaint filed by model Cornejo in 2014 against Navarro for alleged rape and attempted rape.
The CA held that the DOJ should have allowed the trial court to decide on the merit of Cornejo’s claim and Navarro’s counterclaim.
Thus, the appellate court directed the Office of the City Prosecutor of Taguig City to file information against Navarro for rape by sexual intercourse under Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353 and acts of lasciviousness, instead of attempted rape.
It said that it would be up to the court to determine, during a proper trial, on who’s telling the truth.
The rape case, which is being handled by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC), has yet to rule whether a probable cause exist to put Navarro on trial for the said charges.
Earlier, Navarro asked the CA to reconsider its decision ordering the filing of rape and acts of lasciviousness charges against him.
The previous resolutions of the DOJ ruled that Cornejo’s account “suffers from a very serious credibility issue.”
Meanwhile, Mallonga insisted that Navarro did not rape or sexually abused Cornejo as she retraced the events of January 22, 2014, when she said her client was “detained, mauled, threatened, tied up” by the group of businessman Cedric Lee and Cornejo.
She said Cornejo could be seen on a close circuit television camera inside the elevator a minute after Navarro went to her condo unit.
“After she enters elevator, she is smiling, even apparently suppressing giggles, as she looks at her reflection, making it clear she was not a victim of rape and or attempted rape or acts of lasciviousness,” she added.