ACTOR Vhong Navarro finally got the justice he said he was waiting for, when a local court found the three people who conspired to accuse him of rape, guilty of grave coercion and sentenced them to up to three years in prison.

"Wherefore, premises considered, judgement is hereby rendered finding accused Denise Millinette Cornejo, Cedric Cua Lee, and Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh a.k.a Jed Fernandez guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Grave Coercion and, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, sentences them to suffer the indeterminate penalty of six (6) months of arresto mayor as minimum, to three (3) years and six (6) months of prison correccional medium as maximum. The period of their preventive imprisonment shall be credited to the service of their sentence. No pronouncement as to costs,” Judge Bernard Pineda Bernal of the Taguig City Metropolitan Trial Court said in a 50-page ruling posted on entertainment website pep.ph.

"It hurts to be accused of raping someone, and here, we can see the truth coming out.” Navarro said in an interview on Twitter with ABS-CBN entertainment reporter MJ Felipe when sought for a reaction.

"I’m very happy because this is the justice that we’ve been waiting for. I, once again, reminisced all the things they did, like forcing me to sign documents, hurting me, pointing a gun at me and threatening me and my family,” said the actor, a talent of ABS-CBN.

He said that he was thankful to everyone who supported him throughout the case, most especially his legal team who worked on it for five years.

Cornejo filed three rape complaints against Navarro.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Taguig Prosecutor’s Office dismissed two on April 10 and July 1, 2014 respectively because of the inability of the complainant to "provide a logical story” and described her testimony as being "doubtful.”

The third complaint was dismissed on April 30, 2018 by DoJ for lack of evidence against the actor.

Lee and Cornejo may appeal the court decision.

JEAN NICOLE R. STA. CLARA, TMTC INTERN