Vhong snubs hearing for the second time

Vhong Navarro / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA—For the second time now, actor and television host Vhong Navarro ignored another mediation hearing for the grave coercion case he filed against Deniece Cornejo, Cedric Lee and several others.

The actor’s lawyer Alma Mallonga explained in an interview for the Philippine Star that Navarro did this because he does not consider settlement as an option in the case he filed.

“Vhong had already formally rejected settlement as an option in the serious illegal detention case.

The mediation is supposed to deal only with the civil aspect of the grave coercion case. The mediation has been reset one last time with Vhong being directed to personally appear on August 4,” Navarro’s lawyer told the Philippine Star.

Navarro also snubbed the first mediation hearing by the Taguig City Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) Branch 74 last June 2.

“You will note that after the last mediation, Cedric (Lee) denigrated Vhong and publicly expressed that no settlement was possible,” Mallonga said.

However, the court explained that Navarro should stop ignoring the hearings.

If he really does not want to settle, he was advised that he still should attend the hearings and enter a refusal to settle with the respondents.

Navarro filed the case against Cornejo and six other respondents after he was allegedly mauled in Cornejo’s condominium unit.