Given the picture emerging so far, lead goon Cedric Lee and his squeeze starlet Deniece Cornejo are toast. There is no way the rape allegations lobbed by Cornejo against Vhong Navarro could hold water. CCTV footage analysed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had shown that Cornejo had left her condo within a minute of Navarro’s arrival and that Cedric Lee and his goon squad (which included his sister, it seems) arrived within a minute of that.
The NBI had done their job well and made good on their promise to mount an impartial probe on the incident though it warrants a note that Department of Justice Secretary Leila De Lima made that promise on behalf of the bureau. To that I give De Lima credit considering the special circumstances surrounding the case…
De Lima made the statement after reports said businessman Cedric Lee, the leader of the group that mauled Navarro, has backers even in the NBI.
“As in any probe that we undertake, I will make sure that the NBI’s probe will be impartial and credible. I will also look into Cedric Lee’s alleged connections to certain NBI officials, past or present,” she said in a text message.
Of the NBI, a friend of mine quipped after noting its uncharacteristic speediness in the manner with which it came up with these findings: “Takot lang nila kay De Lima”.
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Finally getting her man: DOJ Secretary Leila De Lima
It should be noted, however, that many elements contributed to making this circus work in Malacanang’s favour:
(1) Navarro, the “victim”, is a valued cash cow of Malacanang-controlled media Goliath ABS-CBN and, as such, enjoyed what seemingly turned out to be a highly-effective strategic angelisation campaign mounted by his employer.
(2) Unlike some senators embroiled in the pork barrel scam, Cedric Lee lacked connections high enough in the food chain to save his hide. As such, he became Malacanang’s Holy Grail — an expendable and, likely, guilty Fall Guy.
(3) And unlike Kris Aquino and Sharon Cuneta, the hapless starlet Deniece Cornejo despite her looks and youth failed to capture the sympathies of the Filipino public and instead attracted their wrath as evident in the vicious attacks her Facebook page copped.
Too easy.
Perhaps the way this script played out is how Malacanang would have wanted the Janet Lim Napoles circus to turn out. Too bad for President BS Aquino it didn’t. But this seemingly impending public relations win (if they go the whole nine yards in nailing Lee to the wall), small-time as it may be, is just the reprieve Malacanang needs to keep the public hooked on its daang matuwid rhetoric while it shores up an image tattered by the tell-all privilege speeches of pork-stained Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.
* * *
Epilogue:
The latest haka-haka is that Cornejo, Lee’s kept woman, got a bit frisky with Navarro on their first “date” (presumably organised behind Cedric’s back). But then she may have been caught by Lee texting the lovey-dovey with Navarro. And so the condition (lest she lose the posh condo and the perks showered upon her by Lee) was that she lure back Navarro for a second “date” whereupon he would get roughed up a bit by Lee and his crew to teach him a “lesson”. Given Lee’s reported history of violence (thanks to ex wife Vina Morales’s “contribution” to this circus) it is not much of a stretch of the imagination to, well, imagine a jealousy-fuelled Lee losing control and taking the roughing up a bit too far.
But don’t quote me on that.
Best recourse for now: Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
at least this time the fall guy is actually guilty and very much worthy of life imprisonment, and hopefully a healthy dose of his own medicine. Hope you know how to fight Mr. Lee because unlike the outside world, in prison, you don;t have goons or guns to fight for you. Justice at last.
People would really want to see at least this One big head crooked fish coodled by the past generals is about to get down.
How could have it been a rape when Cornejo said it was attempted rape and later rape? It is also apparent that there was no medical report on Cornejo. No scratches, no bites, no wounds and no contusions.
“Said De Lima in a text message”…..sorry but that is just BULL-SHIT. No one can ever tell anyone else, with any certainty, who sent a particular text message or e-mail. It is one reason, maybe the biggest reason, they both are not admissable in any court proceedings and should be taken as, well……FANTASY. and yet so many in the country believe that type of sentence and regard it as TRUTH…HA,LOL!
I’m actually quite excited to see this unfold. Let’s see how stupid our justice system can get and see whether these guys get away with it.
The Roman Emperors knew how they control their people…give them: Circus and Bread…we have Circus…we don’t have rice. with grumbling stomachs, we react with gusto to the Media circus…
Good one Benigs!
I’m not really into these showbiz fiascos but this one has got me focused on its legal dimensions.
At least, accusations are being scrutinized and it seems like a field day for lawyers as well as lawyer/legal analyst/criminal investigator wannabees.
Thanks. There always is a bigger picture. You just need a bit of thinking to find it in even the most trivial of affairs. It’s what separates GRP writers from all the rest of the little boys in our space. 😉
‘Best recourse for now: Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.’
Indeed. You guys here at GRP might have a field day yet. The thug will talk (or whatever documents the DoJ, BRI, and NBI will dredge up will) — all it takes is a bit of prodding, and the (now seemingly real) threat of him losing his girl, his money, and his status.
ABS-CBN is continually doing a good job in attacking the mindset of the Filipino people. Much thanks to Karen Davila and all their news anchors there, Filipinos are now driven by their sympathy to the comedian / host / gentleman / saint. They watch the variety show everyday, of course they should know his character very well.
As for De Lima, I somewhat can understand her. She’s following the footsteps of the leader — a mediocre babbler.
Mr. Cedric Lee, Bernice Lee, Deniece Cornejo and all the goons that bit up Mr. Vhong Navarro should all go to jail. I don’t know Mr. Navarro personally and I’m not an avid fan but I do believed that he is the one one telling the truth. Cedric and Deniece are both liars and should be prosecuted and should be punished according to the law.