On September 25, the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed actor Vhong Navarro’s request for the DOJ to reconsider its decision to prosecute him with rape by sexual intercourse and acts of lasciviousness.
Recall that on July 21, the CA overturned and annulled the DOJ’s earlier decisions from 2018 and 2020 that had dismissed model Deniece Cornejo’s 2014 lawsuit alleging Navarro of attempting to rape her.
The CA was charged with “unwarranted interference” in Navarro’s application for reconsideration, which also alleged that Cornejo had not offered any new evidence to support her allegations and that the charges against him had already been appropriately dropped.
Navarro argued that the DOJ’s earlier dismissals constituted res judicata, which is a legal doctrine that forbids a party from bringing up an issue or offering evidence on a fact that has already been adjudicated by a court. In addition, he asked for a status quo ante order, citing his rights to due process and the need to exhaust all of his legal options while waiting for the outcome of his move for reconsideration.
The CA rejected Navarro’s assertion of res judicata, stating that “judicial review is admissible where it is demonstrated that the public prosecutor committed grave abuse of discretion,” and that the DOJ’s dismissal of the complaints could not be regarded as verdicts on the issues raised.
After the court ordered his detention in connection with the case on September 20, Navarro turned himself in to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). He is still being held at the Manila detention center of the NBI.
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| Vhong Navarro Mugshot |
