Cedric Lee transferred to Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines — Convict Cedric Lee was transferred to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa on Friday night following his surrender to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) confirmed yesterday.

In a statement, BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. said Lee was turned over by the NBI to the NBP’s Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) at around 9 p.m. on Friday.

“As a standard operating procedure, Lee will stay at the RDC quarantine cell for five days with no visiting privileges,” Catapang said.

“(This is) followed by a diagnostic procedure that includes medical, sociological, psychological, educational and classification processes for 55 days,” he added.

Lee, Deniece Cornejo, Simeon Raz and Ferdinand Guerrero were earlier sentenced by a Taguig court to life in prison in connection with the serious illegal detention for ransom case filed by actor-host Vhong Navarro.

Cornejo and Raz, who were present in court, were immediately detained and committed.

Cornejo, with Prison Number C224P-172, was admitted to the RDC of the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong while Raz, with Prison Number N224P-2079, was transferred to the NBP.

Lee, who surrendered to the NBI several hours after the promulgation, was assigned Prison Number N224P-2117.

Meanwhile, an arrest warrant has been issued against Guerrero, who remains at large.

Catapang earlier said the BuCor has yet to determine where Lee and Raz would be detained since the bureau has an ongoing decongestion program.

PNP to Guerrero: Surrender

The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged Guerrero to surrender instead of evading serving his sentence.

“If he continues to be in hiding, it will create more problems than solutions on his part,” Col. Jean Fajardo, the PNP’s chief information officer, said.

Police went to Guerrero’s last known address but the fugitive was nowhere to be found.

Fajardo said Guerrero should serve his sentence, adding that he can exhaust legal remedies to question the court’s decision.

“But again, he has to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court,” she said.

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said yesterday the BI has “no record of any recent travel” for Guerrero.

He noted that Guerrero has been in the BI’s lookout bulletin since 2014.

“Any future attempts to depart will be stopped as his name is in our records,” Tansingco said. — Emmanuel Tupas, Ghio Ong