The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday said it will transfer comedian and television host Ferdinand “Vhong Navarro from its detention facility to a jail in Taguig City.
In a statement, the NBI said Navarro’s transfer to the Taguig City Jail was in compliance with an order issued on November 14 by the Taguig City’s Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 69 handling the actor’s case.
“Navarro will have to undergo the mandatory medical examination, including RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test, in compliance with the health protocol requirements prior to his transfer to BJMP, Taguig City,” the statement said.
Navarro has been held at the NBI’s detention facility on Taft Avenue, Manila since turning himself in last Sept. 19 on a non-bailable charge of rape.
The rape case was raffled off to the Taguig City RTC Branch 69, while a separate suit of acts lasciviousness was given to the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) Branch 116.
The cases arose from the complaints of model Deniece Millinete Cornejo who accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2014.
Prosecutors accused Navarro of raping Cornejo through “force, threat, and intimidation” and by purposely intoxicating her on January 2014.
Navarro has denied the allegations against him.
Early on, Cornejo’s complaints were dismissed both by the prosecutor’s office and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
On Cornejo’s petition, however, the DOJ’s resolution was reversed by the Court of Appeals which ordered the filing of the criminal charges against Navarro. Willie Casas