Lee, Raz, Cornejo to be transferred to Taguig City Jail

MANILA, Philippines - Commercial model Deniece Cornejo, businessman Cedric Lee and martial artist Simeon Palma Raz Jr. who are accused of illegally detaining television host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro may be moved out anytime soon to the dormitories of the Taguig City Jail inside Camp Bagong Diwa.

This came after the Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 271 denied the motions of the three accused to stop their possible transfer to the city jail.

In her decision dated June 16 but was only released on Monday, Taguig RTC Branch 271 Presiding Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes ruled that the Bureau of Corrections has the mandate over national inmates serving sentences of more than three years. A copy of the court’s decision was obtained by Tony Calvento, a columnist of the Star group of companies.

Lee and Raz are detained at the detention facility of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) while Cornejo is under the custody of the Women and Children Protection Unit of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Camp Crame.

"It is not, therefore, the NBI or the CIDG who has the jurisdiction in this case on the persons of the accused who are awaiting trial," Cortes said in her decision.

"For them to stay at the NBI and the CIDG without any basis would be against the law," she added.

In their motions, Lee and Raz argued that Navarro's "celebrity status" and the case's media exposure make them vulnerable to inmates in a regular jail. They added that "their safety and their lives will be greatly endangered" when they are not allowed to stay in their current detention facilities.

Cornejo in her motion, meanwhile, called the complainant "very famous" with "many loyal, passionate fans across the country, among them are the ardent inmates of regular city jails."

Judge Cortes in her decision added that she personally inspected all three jail facilities under her court’s jurisdiction, including the Taguig City Jail inside Camp Bagong Diwa and also interviewed their respective wardens and inmates.

"The interview of the Court on the detained prisoners had resulted [in] a finding that the detained prisoners had not hatred in mind against the accused herein," Cortes said.

She also noted that the inmates have no access to the Internet and could not be among those who allegedly threatened the accused online.

Cortes added that the inmates are “actually very excited” to welcome the three accused into their cells.

“The welcome is not the kind of welcome that is in the minds of the accused. The excitement is that of ordinary citizens meeting celebrities. The fear of the accused that the private complainant had generated sensational news in his favor being a celebrity has actually also engendered upon them a celebrity status. The female detainees are actually excited to count Ms. Deniece Millinette Cornejo as among the beautiful inmates in jail for the coming beauty contest in October,” the decision said.

Lee and Raz were arrested on April 26 while Cornejo surrendered on May 5. They face charges for serious illegal detention and grave coercion.

Meanwhile, Navarro’s lawyer Alma Mallonga said even if the accused would still file motions for the court to reconsider its decision to transfer them to a regular jail,  the court has a standing order to commit them to a jail facility within the court’s jurisdiction.

Mallonga said that commitment order was only suspended after the accused filed their respective motions asking that they not be moved out of the custodies of the NBI and the CIDG. Mallonga said that with the June 16 decision of the court, junking the motions of the accused, the commitment order must be now executed.

Should Cornejo be transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa, she would be joining the female dormitory of the Taguig City Jail where businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles and lawyer Gigi Reyes– who are both linked to the pork barrel scam- are also detained.