DOJ to NBI: Arrest Cedric Lee, 4 others

MANILA, Philippines–Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Wednesday that she had ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest Cedric Lee, his sister and three others who have yet to post bail on the grave coercion charge filed against them in connection with the mauling of TV host-comedian Vhong Navarro.

At press time, only two of the accused had made bail: Deniece Cornejo who went to the Taguig Hall of Justice Wednesday to pay the P12,000 bond and Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh aka Jed Fernandez who did so on Tuesday.

Work in all courthouses nationwide was suspended starting at noon yesterday in observance of the Holy Week upon the order of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

“I gave the order already,” De Lima told reporters. “So now, the NBI should implement the arrest warrants.”

She said that if the accused fail to post bail, “it becomes the duty of law enforcement officers to implement the arrest warrant.”

Aside from Lee and his sister Bernice, the others who have yet to post bail are Simeon Palma Raz aka Zimmer Raz, Jose Paolo Gregorio Calma and Ferdinand Guerrero.

Arrest warrants for all the accused were recently issued by the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 74 under Judge Bernard Bernal.

They also face a charge of serious illegal detention—a nonbailable offense—in the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 271.  But because they questioned the case through a motion for judicial determination of probable cause, Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes has yet to issue warrants for their arrest.

Guerrero attempted to leave the country last Monday but he was stopped by immigration authorities since he and the others  were in the immigration lookout bulletin.

De Lima had warned the group against leaving the country, saying they would be stopped, detained and arrested for obstruction of justice.

The cases against them were filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the mauling of Navarro in Cornejo’s condominium in January.

At the same time, it dismissed Cornejo’s rape complaint against the comedian for lack of probable cause.

She had claimed that Navarro tried to rape her, prompting her friends led by Lee to come to her rescue. Navarro had said that the whole thing was a setup and that Lee had tried to extort money from him.

Lee, who was reported to have booked a Saturday flight to Dubai that was canceled, also faces a tax evasion case filed against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The DOJ has set on April 28 the first hearing for the preliminary investigation it will conduct on Lee’s tax evasion complaint.

The BIR sued Lee and his company, Izumo Contractors Inc., for tax liabilities amounting to P194.47 million.

Also included in the complaint with Lee, the firm’s president and chief executive officer, were Izumo’s chief operating officer John K. Ong and its financial officer Judy Gutierrez Lee.

They were all charged with willful attempt to evade or defeat tax and deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in their company’s annual income tax return for taxable years 2006 to 2009 in violation of Sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela said yesterday that she had designated Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Mariano to take charge of the preliminary investigation.

Valenzuela added that she did not form a panel for the purpose because she did not expect Lee’s case to involve voluminous documents.

For his part, Mariano said he sent a subpoena to Lee’s lawyer,  Howard Calleja, on April 11 and the latter had asked for a delay in the proceedings because his client was still busy with the cases filed against him by Navarro.

This prompted him to set the preliminary investigation on April 28.