DOJ to consolidate Deniece, Vhong complaints

MANILA, Philippines - The Taguig City Prosecutor's Office will forward to the Department of Justice (DOJ) the records of the rape complaint filed by model Deniece Cornejo against actor Vhong Navarro.

"We will be endorsing this (complaint) to the DOJ. Once endorsed, the DOJ will be the one to handle the preliminary investigation. We no longer have any participation in it," said Margie Zafra, secretary of Taguig City Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat.

Zafra said the complaint's documents will be submitted to the DOJ on Tuesday.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano on Monday ordered the Taguig Prosecutor’s Office to forward the complaint of Cornejo against Navarro to the DOJ for consolidation.

In a one-page Office Order 116, the DOJ said consolidation is necessary for the rape complaint filed by Cornejo before the Taguig City Prisecutor's Office and the earlier complaints filed by Navarro against Cornejo, Cedric Lee, his sister Bernice Lee and several others for serious illegal detention, serious physical injuries, grave threats, grave coercion, illegal arrest and blackmail before the DOJ.

"Considering that the complaints set forth arose from one and the same incident, founded on the same factual and legal issues and involving the same parties," said the order.

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“The City Prosecutor of Taguig is hereby directed to transmit the entire records of the complaint of Deniece Cornejo to the DOJ panel of prosecutors immediately upon receipt hereof,” the office order added.

An all women panel has been created by the DOJ to handle the complaint of Navarro. Upon consolidation, the office order states that the same panel will handle the rape complaint filed by Cornejo against Navarro.

Last January 29, Cornejo accompanied by her lawyers Howard Calleja and Maria Concepcion Aquino, filed her 10-page complaint affidavit before Asistant Prosecutor Laarni Fabella.

Source: philstar.com - Nation