What went before: Vhong Navarro vs Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo

Actor and TV host Vhong Navarro arrives at the Taguig City RTC on Tuesday, May 6, for a hearing on his January 22 mauling at the hands of businessman Cedric Lee and cohorts.

A year after the rape charges against him were dropped by the Supreme Court, TV host and actor Vhong Navarro scored another legal victory on Thursday against businessman Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo, and two others.

GMA News Online looked back on how it all started.

January 17, 2014 — Navarro visited model Deniece Cornejo, whom he had known two years ago but had the chance to get in touch again two months prior, at Forbeswood Heights condominium in Taguig City at 10:30 p.m.

In his sworn affidavit, Navarro said the two of them drank wine and had consensual oral sex. Cornejo, meanwhile, in her complaint, said she was raped by Navarro.

January 22, 2014 — Navarro and Cornejo met again at her condominium unit at 10:30 p.m.

According to a court document, Lee’s group was seen gathering at Ritz Towers with police officers a few hours before the meet-up. They then went to the Forbeswood condominium in batches.

Cornejo, Bernice Lee, Zimmer Raz, and Sampana were the first to leave Ritz Towers and went to Forbeswood, entering the basement. From the basement, they went straight to Cornejo’s condo unit.

Bernice Lee left the condo unit, leaving Cornejo, Raz, and Sampana. Navarro then arrived in Forbeswood and went to the condo unit.

Cornejo left her condo unit, leaving Raz, Sampana, and Navarro. Lee, Jedd Fernandez, JP Calma, and Ferdinand Guerrero arrived in Forbeswood and went straight to the condo unit.

Inside the condo unit, the group physically harmed Navarro and made him say that he was caught in the act of raping Cornejo.

Bernice Lee and Cornejo went back to the condo unit. After this, the group, together with Navarro, whose hands were tied, entered the elevator, went down, and left Forbeswood.

January 28, 2014 — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed a complaint for serious illegal detention, serious physical injuries, grave threats, grave coercion, unlawful arrest, and threatening to publish and offer to prevent such publication for compensation at the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Cornejo, Lee, and six others in connection with Navarro’s mauling incident.

Navarro executed his affidavit in his hospital bed as he was recuperating from the five-hour operation he underwent.

January 29, 2014 — Cornejo filed her first rape complaint against Navarro under Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) in relation to Republic Act 9262  before the Office of City Prosecutor (OCP) of Taguig City.

February 27, 2014 — Cornejo filed her second rape complaint against Navarro under Article 266-A of the RPC in relation to RA 9262.

April 4, 2014 — The DOJ dismissed the first complaint for lack of probable cause, as Cornejo was unable to provide a “logical story” on her alleged rape.

Meanwhile, the charge relative to RA 9262 only applies to parties “who admit that prior to, during, and after the commission of the crime of offense they had a dating relationship,” the DOJ said.

“Because the dating relationship was not clearly established even by the complainant herself, the said offense should not have been considered in the first place,” it said.

April 10, 2014 — The DOJ filed serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges in court against Lee, Cornejo, and others involved in the mauling of Navarro.

April 16, 2014 — The Taguig RTC Branch 271 issued arrest warrants for Raz, Abuhijleh, Guerrero, Lee, and Cornejo.

April 26, 2014 — The NBI arrested Lee and Raz in Eastern Samar. Lee, however, insisted he was not arrested but “gave [himself] up voluntarily.” He also said he was not hiding in Eastern Samar but was merely attending a business engagement there.

May 5, 2014 — Cornejo voluntarily surrendered to the Philippine National Police and filed her petition for bail. Cornejo was accused of serious illegal detention, a non-bailable offense.

July 11, 2014 — The Taguig OCP dismissed the second rape complaint Cornejo filed against Navarro, ruling that if it were true that Navarro raped Cornejo on January 17, she wouldn’t have invited him to her condominium unit on January 22.

September 15, 2014 —The RTC granted Lee, Raz, and Cornejo’s petition for bail and set the bail bond of the private respondents at P500,000 each.

September 16, 2014 — Lee and Raz were released from detention after posting bail.

September 18, 2014 — Cornejo was released on bail after two days of preparing her bail and other requirements for her provisional liberty.

October 16, 2015 — Cornejo filed the third complaint against Navarro for rape and attempted rape.

September 6, 2017 — Cornejo’s third rape complaint was dismissed by the Prosecutor General, noting that the “complainant—the storyteller—suffers from a very serious credibility issue.”

April 30, 2018 — The DOJ affirmed its previous junking of rape and attempted rape charges against Navarro.

July 21, 2022 — The Court of Appeals (CA) ordered the City Prosecutor of Taguig City to file rape and acts of lasciviousness charges against Navarro on complaints filed by Cornejo.

August 31, 2022 — The Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office filed a rape case against Navarro with the Taguig Regional Trial Court over the alleged rape of Cornejo.

September 20, 2022 — Navarro surrendered to the NBI after a Taguig court issued a warrant of arrest against him.

November 6, 2022 — The CA denied Lee’s motion to dismiss the serious illegal detention case filed against him by Navarro.

November 21, 2022 — Navarro was transferred from the NBI headquarters to Taguig City Jail following an order from the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69.

December 5, 2022 — The Taguig RTC Branch 69 granted Navarro’s petition, allowing him to post a P1 million bail.

December 6, 2022 — Navarro was released from detention upon posting bail.

January 16, 2023 – Navarro resumed his hosting duties on ABS-CBN’s ”It’s Showtime.”

February 8, 2023 — The SC Third Division dismissed the charges of rape and acts of lasciviousness against Navarro due to a lack of probable cause. According to the SC, the CA gravely erred in ordering the DOJ to revive the rape case, citing inconsistencies in Cornejo’s statements.

“Indeed, no amount of skillful or artful deportment, manner of speaking, or portrayal in a subsequent court proceeding could supplant Cornejo’s manifestly inconsistent and highly deficient, doubtful, and unclear accounts of her supposed harrowing experience in the hands of Navarro,” the SC said.

May 2, 2024 – A Taguig court found Lee, Cornejo, Guerrero, and Simeon Raz guilty of illegally detaining Navarro.

The court sentenced them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison.

Raz and Cornejo, who personally attended the promulgation, were committed immediately by the court to the Correctional Institution for Women and the New Bilibid Prison, respectively.

Lee surrendered to the NBI.

The RTC also ordered the accused to pay Navarro P100,000 in civil indemnity, P100,000 as moral damages, and P100,000 as exemplary damages. — VBL, GMA Integrated News

This article What went before: Vhong Navarro vs Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo was originally published in GMA News Online.