Vhong Navarro surrenders to NBI after 'acts of lasciviousness' warrant of arrest
Actor Vhong Navarro has been issued a warrant or arrest for acts of lasciviousness in connection with the 2014 rape case filed by model and stylist, Deniece Cornejo.
Per ABS-CBN News, the It's Showtime host surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday morning. The 1-page order given by the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116 found "probable cause" for Navarro to undergo trial.
According to the warrant of arrest, the trial court found probable cause "after personally evaluating and taking into consideration the information filed in the above-titled case, as well as the allegations in the complain-affidavit executed by the offended party (Cornejo)."
They set the recommended bail at P36,000.
The acts of lasciviousness warrant is from the 2014 rape case filed by Cornejo, which alleged the actor of raping the model in her Taguig condominium on January 22. She also later claimed that Navarro raped her on January 17 of the same year. Meanwhile, the rape case itself is still pending before Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69.
In 2018, a Taguig court had found Cornejo, businessman Cedric Lee, and Jed Fernandez guilty of grave coercion after Navarro countered that he was assaulted and detained on the same night to admit the accusations.
However, in June of 2020, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the previous 2018 and 2020 resolutions dismissing Cornejo's claims and directed the case back to the City Prosecutor of Taguig City.
Navarro's camp had shared that they were shocked when the case resurfaced this 2022 and promptly filed a motion for reconsideration.
Cornejo’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, also alleged that Navarro's rape case file had gone missing in August of this year, which was denied by the DOJ.
"The case folder was transmitted to the Taguig City prosecutor’s office for review last Friday," said DOJ Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento. "When it was located, it contained numerous pages. The paging must be indicated in the transmittal."