NBI: Video favors Vhong Navarro

Photo by Tetch Torres/INQUIRER.net

The footage taken by a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera at the condominium where TV host-comedian Vhong Navarro was mauled supports his version of the events on Jan. 22 and not that of Deniece Cornejo, said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

In a press conference Wednesday, NBI-National Capital Region Assistant Director Vicente de Guzman said the possibility that Cornejo was raped was “very slim.”

He made the statement as Cornejo filed a rape complaint against Navarro at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office. She was with her lawyer Ma. Concepcion Aquino and Cedric Lee’s counsel, Howard Calleja.

The TV host earlier accused Lee and several other men of mauling him at Cornejo’s condominium on Jan. 22. He claimed that he was set up by Lee who tried to extort P2 million from him.

Asked why Cornejo sued Navarro for rape when she accused him of attempted rape in a police blotter report she filed just hours after the incident at her condominium unit, Calleja said that “whatever was said before was the interpretation of laymen, not lawyers.” He added: “The facts presented to us as lawyers clearly constitute the crime of rape.”

Aquino, on the other hand, defended Cornejo for changing her mind about filing a complaint when the latter earlier informed the police that she had no intention of suing Navarro.

“You don’t expect her to file immediately. She went through a lot of trauma and psychological issues,” Aquino said.

Asked about the NBI stand that the footage favored Navarro, Calleja said: “We are not sure if the CCTV is clear, or has been tampered [with], or whatever happened to it. We don’t have it in possession. You’re not seeing the whole story.”

“Whatever you see on TV, that is what they would like to show [you],” he added.

De Guzman, meanwhile, said that the footage taken by a CCTV camera at Forbeswood Heights condominium supported the TV host’s statement to probers.

“The possibility of rape based on the time sequence of the security video is very slim and supports the statements of Navarro [that there was] no rape,” he told reporters.

According to De Guzman, the footage showed that after Navarro went into Cornejo’s unit, she stepped out after a minute and entered the elevator.

Lee was shown arriving at the condominium three minutes later, belying his claim that when he entered Cornejo’s unit, he came upon Navarro trying to rape her.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima echoed the NBI’s opinion, saying that the CCTV footage—which she had seen twice— showed that it was not possible for Navarro to have raped Cornejo.

“Res ipsa loquitur (The thing speaks for itself),” De Lima said in a text message when she was asked if the footage bolstered the criminal complaint filed the other day by the NBI against Cornejo and seven others for the mauling of Navarro.

De Lima, meanwhile, said she intended to issue an immigration lookout bulletin order against Cornejo, Lee, his sister Bernice and the other suspects following reports that Cornejo and Lee were set to fly to Singapore on Feb. 6.

The information, however, was denied by Cornejo and Lee. “The report is not true. I’m here in the Philippines and have no plans of leaving soon. I will face all the issues and clear my name while I’m here,” Lee told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Cornejo, on the other hand, issued a denial through her uncle, Rod Cornejo. With Christine O. Avendaño, Marinel R. Cruz