Model Deniece Cornejo’s petition that was dismissed by the Court of Appeals (CA), seeking to cancel TV host and comedian Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro’s bail in the rape case she filed, has become final and executory.
The CA recently issued an entry of judgment after it denied Cornejo’s appeal to cancel Navarro’s bail.
Cornejo elevated her case to the CA after the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 denied her motion for reconsideration to reverse the court’s decision to grant P1 million bail to Navarro.
Navarro was accused of raping Cornejo on Jan. 17, 2014 in her condominium unit in Taguig.
Last Dec. 5, the Taguig court issued a decision and granted bail to Navarro. He was released from the Taguig City Jail Male Dormitory on Dec. 6.
In a decision promulgated on Feb. 8, the Supreme Court granted Navarro’s petition for review on certiorari and dismissed the cases of rape and acts acts of lasciviousness filed by Cornejo.
With this, Cornejo’s petition became “moot and academic,” based on the CA issuance.
In the entry of judgment, the CA certified “that on April 14, 2023, a Resolution rendered in the above entitled case was filed in this Office, the dispositive part of which reads as follows: ‘WHEREFORE, CA-G.R. SP No. 177701 is dismissed for the following reasons: 1) petitioner’s lack of legal personality to file the case; 2) the petition is defective in form, and is already moot and academic. So ordered.’”
It added that the decision “has become final and executory on May 24, 2023 and is hereby recorded in the Book of Entries of Judgments.”
The CA denied her petition as she filed a petition without the conformity of a public prosecutor or Office of the Solicitor General, according to a lawyer.
The decision dismissing Cornejo’s petition before the CA became final and executory after it was verified that no motion for reconsideration or SC petition was filed by her.
During the “It’s Showtime” program on March 14, Navarro praised SC decision and thanked his lawyers, colleagues, friends, fans and family.
“Alam mo dasal ako nang dasal every day, every night na hopefully e makuha ko na yung minimithi ko na matapos na itong pinagdadaanan ko (You know I prayed every day, every night that hopefully I could achieve what I desired to end what I had been going through),” he said. (J. Hicap, mb.com)
CAPTION: Vhong Navarro (Left) and Deniece Cornejo (Facebook)