Vhong Navarro’s camp delighted at the decision of the Court of Appeals to reject Cedric Lee’s appeal to dismiss the case of serious illegal detention for ransom filed by the TV host-comedian against the businessman and six of his colleagues. Vhong claimed in his 2014 lawsuit that Lee’s group assaulted him, threatened to k!ll him, and requested money in exchange for his freedom.

The 17th Division of the Court of Appeals affirmed the order given by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in 2019 denying Lee’s motion to dismiss the case in a twelve (12) page decision signed by Associate Justice Angelene Mary Quimpo Sale.

Cedric appealed the case to the Court of Appeals, claiming “grave abuse” in the Taguig RTC’s decision in his motion.

“We are very happy that the court of appeals denied the petition. That news gave Vhong more strength to continue with the battle,” said Atty. In an interview, Maggie Abraham-Garduque.

Atty. Vhong’s legal counsel is Garduque.

According to him, the Court of Appeals’ decision is good news for Vhong.

“Matatandaang una naman talagang nag-file si Vhong ng kaso for serious illegal detention against Lee, et al. and he was claiming na siya talaga ang biktima,” He stated.

“Umaasa si Vhong na patuloy na lalabas ang katotohanan.

“Hindi madali ang pinagdadaanan niya lalo na ngayon na patuloy pa rin siyang nakakulong sa NBI.Pero ang ganitong mga balita really helps him to stay positive and to keep his faith.

“Umaasa si Vhong na even in the rape case, lalabas din ang totoo and, in the end, makalalaya rin siya.”

It has been over eight years since Deniece Cornejo suspected Vhong of abuse in a Taguig City condominium building in January 2014.

Cerdric and six other people were accused of taking revenge on Deniece by attacking and illegally detaining Vhong.