The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges against Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo and others involved in the mauling of TV host-actor Vhong Navarro last January.
In a 42-page resolution, the DOJ used as basis for the serious illegal detention charges the evidence indicating Navarro's hands were tied when Lee's group brought him out of Cornejo's condominium unit at Forbeswood Heights in Taguig City on the night of January 22.
It also noted the severe beatings Navarro suffered at the hands of Lee and his companions, as well as the refusal of Lee's group to report the incident to the condominium's security guards.
The DOJ also said the real motive behind the mauling came out when Lee's group tried to extort P2 million from him as shown by the exchange of text messages between Lee and Navarro.
Aside from Lee and Cornejo, also charged were Lee's sister Bernice, Simeon Raz, Jose Paolo Gregorio Calma, Ferdinand Guerrero and Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh.
In an interview, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the DOJ panel has ruled that Navarro was "being deprived of his will at that point when those men ganged up on him."
She said the panel also recommended grave coercion charges against Lee's group for allegedly forcing Navarro to claim that he tried to rape Cornejo inside her condominium unit.
"'Yung grave coercion din para sa panel klarado dahil pinilit siya (Navarro) na aminin na ni-rape daw niya si Deniece. Again he was just forced to admit it, because andiyan ang able-bodied men na mga bumubugbog sa kanya," De Lima said.
De Lima said under Section 248 of the Revised Penal Code, serious illegal detention is non-bailable.
"Lalo na in this particular case, it is attended by circumstances of infliction of serious physical injuries and grave threats, and the element of extortion, which in the view of the panel is tantamount to ransom," she said.
The DOJ panel, meanwhile, junked the rape complaint filed by Cornejo against Navarro for lack of probable cause.
A report on GMA News TV's "Balita Pilipinas Ngayon" said Cornejo was furious over the DOJ's recommendation, as she insisted that she was raped by Navarro.
Lee's lawyers, on the other hand, refused to comment as they have yet to receive a copy of the DOJ's recommendation. — GMA News
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