NBI to transfer Vhong Navarro to Camp Bagong Diwa
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to transfer comedian-host Vhong Navarro to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
This, after a Taguig court denied Navarro’s motion to remain in the NBI detention center over the non-bailable rape case filed by former model Deniece Cornejo, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
In a statement, the NBI Security Management Section said it received the order from Regional Trial Court Branch 69 to commit Navarro to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Taguig City Jail Male Dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa.
It said Navarro “will have to undergo the mandatory medical examination in compliance with the health protocol requirements prior to his transfer to BJMP Taguig City.”
Deniece Cornejo initially claimed that Navarro raped her in her condominium unit on January 22, 2014.
The Department of Justice cited these inconsistencies in dismissing Cornejo’s complaints.
CCTV footage showed Navarro was in Cornejo’s condo unit for less than a minute on January 22, 2014, the same day Cedric Lee and companions mauled Navarro and forced him to confess to raping Cornejo before a police station.
The CCTV footage was not discussed in the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling rejecting Navarro’s bid to stop the filing of rape and acts of lasciviousness charges against him.
In July, the same CA Division overturned resolutions of the Department of Justice and Taguig City prosecutors which previously junked Cornejo’s rape allegations.
Navarro’s lawyer, Alma Mallonga, had also questioned the revival of the case eight years after the incidents happened.
“Paulit-ulit na dismissal from the Office of the City Prosecutor, by the Prosecutor-General, by the Secretary of Justice. Paulit-ulit na binasura doon,” the lawyer said.
“Ang tanong doon is: Kung ikaw [Deniece] ay talagang na-rape noong January 17, bakit ka pa nakipagkita noong January 22? At kung sinasabi mo na hinalay ka noong January 22, dahil ‘yun ang una niyang sinasabi, bakit sa CCTV footage nakikita na ikaw ay ngumingiti at napaka-kalmado?” she asked.