MANILA, Philippines – National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will file a case Tuesday against a businessman and others involved in the alleged mauling of actor Vhong Navarro at a condominium unit in The Fort last Jan. 22.
“(Perhaps) anytime today we will file the case already with the Department of Justice,” NBI Chief Virgilio Mendez told Inquirer Radio 990AM, referring to Cedric Lee.
He said he has not read the specifics of the case but was sure the charges would include serious illegal detention and serious physical injuries.
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| Actor and TV host Vhong Navarro. SCREENGRAB FROM ABS-CBN INTERVIEW |
Mendez said a team headed by Vicente “Jun” de Guzman III, assistant director of NBI National Capital Region, had been working on the case since it came to their attention last week.
He said the preliminary case to be filed on Tuesday would only include the names of those identified by the team. The others will have to be identified later by Navarro or by witnesses.
“Anyway, we now have the CCTV (footage).
Then ipakita na lang natin later baka may mga witnesses or si Vhong mismo makapag-identify,” Mendez said.
(Anyway, we now have the CCTV footage. We can show it later in case there are witnesses or Navarro himself will identify his attackers.)
He said the investigation team met with Navarro’s lawyers while Lee had visited their office last Friday.
Both Lee and Deniece Cornejo, who accused Navarro of attempting to rape her, were expected to give their statements on Monday at the NBI headquarters but did not show up.
Both gave their statements to media and said they would file cases against Navarro.
Asked about Lee’s supposed influence and connections inside the agency, Mendez said, “I don’t know Cedric. And if it’s true that he is very influential [and he has a lot of friends in NBI], I don’t think that’s a problem with us because we will always be guided by the evidence that we have gathered.”
