Vhong Navarro will not let the case against Cedric Lee and Deniece Cornejo end with the Court of Appeals’ order to free them. The actor-host plans to use every legal option still available to him, according to his counsel.
“Through all these years, Mr. Vhong Navarro chose to keep faith with the justice system in place in our country… In keeping with that faith, he will continue to pursue all the remedies that are available to him,” lawyer Alma Mallonga said in a message sent to ABS-CBN News on Monday.
Mallonga said Navarro would still respect how the legal battle ultimately ends. “He is prepared to fully accept the result of that process when it finally ends,” she said.
“Mr. Navarro shall continue to trust in the process and abide by whatever that requires,” the lawyer added.
The appellate court lowered the conviction of Lee and Cornejo from serious illegal detention for ransom to grave coercion. It also set their penalty at six months as minimum to three years, six months and 21 days as maximum.
Mallonga rejected the reason given for the pair’s immediate release, saying “it is not true that the accused have been detained since 2014, which is the reason the Court of Appeals had ordered their immediate release.”
“But they have, in fact, been serving time in prison. Whether or not the period the accused have spent in incarceration is sufficient, considering the affirmance of their conviction, is a matter of law which everyone is bound to respect,” she said.
Lee and Cornejo have not yet walked free. The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said it is still checking the court orders before letting them go, noting that the two are also serving sentences for a separate grave coercion conviction. Based on the bureau’s current computation, Cornejo reaches her minimum sentence date on December 23, 2026, while Lee reaches his on February 18, 2027.
Cornejo came under BuCor custody on May 2, 2024, a day before Lee. As of September 26, she had 440 days of Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) and 75 days of Time Allowance for Study, Teaching and Mentoring (TASTM), for a credited time served of three years, nine months and 24 days.
Lee had earned 460 days of GCTA, bringing his credited time served to three years, 10 months and 29 days.
