The First Happenings on Navarro-Cornejo Case

         The mauling incident that commenced between Vhong Navarro and Cedric Lee, along with the latter's Popeye fan friends, last January 22 inside Cornejo's condo unit at Forbeswood Heights had led to heightened tension on both netizens and followers of both camps. The said incident led to Navarro's numerous bruises, wounds, and even broken bones. The cause? A 22-year old girl in the name of Deniece Millet Cornejo whom Cedric said was shouting for help when he and his sister were on the same floor where the shouting happened. As per Lee's camp, Vhong, with his pants down, was caught on top of the girl, who screamed for help as Vhong tried to rape her. Consequently, the mauling scenario happened. Several activities then followed which included Navarro's penning on the blotter in Taguig police station as well as the agreement between him and Cedric on paying 2 million pesos for the damages he incurred inside the condo unit. The day after, Navarro's photos were plastered on the net, enraging followers as it exploded online like a bomb. 

       I am sorry for the long intro. For those who have missed a single update on the case, here are the next events:

Navarro had an interview with Boy Abunda, spitting everything that happened during the mauling incident as well as the very first time when he and Cornejo met. At this day, Lee and Cornejo declined any interview opportunity with ABS CBN, but had their interview with GMA. News then came out about the rape incident, which was supposedly the main reason that Cedric and his friends had to stop Navarro by beating him up and tying him on a chair with a cloth placed in his mouth. On the one hand, the the policemen who dealt with Navarro and Lee with the blotter were relieved due to lack of proper procedures when dealing in cases like this.

Succeeding interviews came which included the story that Cornejo and Navarro had an oral sex during their first meeting, several days prior to the mauling incident. Navarro's camp then sought the aid of de Lima to look into his case and the NBI to provide security to his family's house as well as hasten the investigation of the case. At this point, the 3 of Lee's friends were sought for the issuance of subpoena. Both camps have also formally filed a case against each other; Cornejo filed rape against Navarro while Navarro filed six cases including grave threats, grave coercion, serious physical injuries, blackmail, unlawful arrest, and serious illegal detention.

The CCTV footage in the lobby as well as the elevator in the condo was released online, which heated the case. The footage showed Vhong's arrival in the unit at about 10:30 pm. A minute later, Cedric and a guy came in the lobby. Deniece then went in the elevator two minutes after Vhong entered the unit. Three men were seen entering the lobby while Grace, Cedric's sister also entered the said place. Several minutes later, Cedric and his friends as well as Vhong whose hands are tied at his back were seen in the elevator altogether.

In a span of one week, Cornejo made an appearance in several GMA shows such as Star Talk where she peculiarly asked Vhong to come out and tell the truth. The Navarro submitted his mobile phone to the NBI as the said agency was trying to retrieve all messages sent by both parties to Navarro before and after the incident. Lawyers of both camps have started to talk on behalf of their clients as well. 

As of reading, Manalo quits as Vhong's laywer and Raymond Fortun to represent Cedric Lee.

I have spent some days reading on these happenings as it is undeniably popular and I couldn't help but read an update whenever I browse on Rappler, ABS CBN, GMA, etc. I couldn't also help but read the tons of comments left for each article. While some comments are neutral, some obviously show support to Navarro as they show disgust to Cornejoy as others blame Navarro for his behavior and tap on Cornejo and Lee's camps. These lead to my questions to ponder for the case.