Vhong Navarro surrenders to NBI after issuance of arrest warrant, says lawyer

Television host and actor Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday after a Taguig court issued a warrant of arrest against him for alleged acts of lasciviousness, his lawyer said.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Atty. Alma Mallonga said Navarro will remain under the custody of the NBI until his recommended bail of P36,000 gets approved.

“Gagawin natin ‘yung kailangan nating gawin. Magi-issue dito ng certificate of detention. Si Mr. Navarro ay mapapasailalim ng custody ng NBI hanggang ma-approve ang kanyang bail,” she said, as she expressed confidence that Navarro will be granted bail within the day.

(We will do what we have to do. A certificate of detention will be issued. Mr. Navarro will be under the custody of the NBI until his bail is approved.)

Mallonga said the warrant of arrest was related to an incident on January 22, 2014, wherein Navarro got injured after being mauled by a group which included model-stylist Deniece Cornejo and businessman Cedric Lee.

“Ito ‘yung basehan kung bakit merong serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges against Ms. Cornejo at Mr. Cedric Lee at iba pa. Siya (Vhong) ang biktima. Nung nagsampa siya ng kaso biglang sinabi ni Cornejo na ni-rape pala siya. Hindi ito totoo,” she said.

(That was the basis why there were serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges against Ms. Cornejo and Mr. Cedric Lee and others. Vhong is the victim. When he filed the case, Cornejo suddenly said that she was raped. This is not true.)

In April 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) denied the petition for review filed by Cornejo, which challenged a September 2017 resolution that found no probable cause to press charges against Navarro in court.

The DOJ maintained there was no sufficient evidence to warrant Navarro's indictment, saying it was "not impressed" by Cornejo's additional pieces of evidence: two previous rape complaints filed by two other women, a published statement of another, and an alleged date-rape drug.

However, the DOJ resolution was set aside by the  Court of Appeals (CA) in August 2022 as it ordered the City Prosecutor of Taguig to file rape and acts of lasciviousness charges against Navarro.

This resulted in the Taguig City Prosecutor's Office’s filing of a rape case against Navarro with the Taguig Regional Trial Court earlier this month.

Prosecutors accused Navarro of raping the victim through “force, threat, and intimidation” and by purposely intoxicating her on January 17, 2014.—AOL, GMA News