The grandmother of commercial model Deniece Cornejo filed on Tuesday a grave coercion complaint against the lawyer of television host Vhong Navarro after the two figured in a row on Friday afternoon.
Florencia Cornejo, 63, in her four-page complaint affidavit filed in the Taguig Prosecutor’s Office, said that the incident happened around 3 p.m. on May 16.
She claimed that during a recess in the hearing on the bail petition filed by her niece and six other suspects at the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 271, she met Navarro’s lawyer, Alma Mallonga, who noticed the sticker on her shirt which read: “Justice for Deniece! Jail the rapist!”
According to Florencia, Mallonga “blocked my path forcibly, pushed me back to the comfort room and shouted invectives at me and threatened to sue me for contempt if I will roam the vicinity of the court (sic). She also ordered me to remove the sticker … on my shirt.”
In an interview on Tuesday, she said the incident caused her blood pressure to shoot up and left her stressed.
Her lawyer Axel Gonzales, said they would also file within the week an administrative complaint against Mallonga and push for her disbarment.
Another lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said that he would be filing an affidavit as a witness to the incident.
But Mallonga, on Tuesday, said in her defense: “I can categorically say I did not push her, grab her or shake her.”
“We always say follow the process. If and when I am required to respond, I will. But remember, if you file anything and it’s under oath, you have to prepare for the consequences if in fact, it is not true what you say,” she added.
Mallonga denied that she saw Topacio during the alleged confrontation. She added that Hazel Valdez, a prosecutor from the Department of Justice, would testify in her defense.
On Friday, Navarro testified in court in connection with the petition for bail filed by the suspects whom he had charged with serious illegal detention, a nonbailable offense. The hearing which started at 2:30 p.m. went on until 10 p.m. as the TV host underwent direct examination and cross-examination.
He had accused Deniece, businessman Cedric Lee, mixed martial arts practitioner Zimmer Raz and their friends JP Calma, Ferdinand Guerrero, Jed Fernandez and Lee’s sister Bernice of making it appear that he had raped Deniece to extort money from him.