Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 18) — The Court of Appeals (CA) rejected actor Vhong Navarro’s petition to reverse the acquittal of Sajed Fernandez Abuhijleh or “Jed Fernandez,” one of those he accused of grave coercion in relation to his rape case.

The CA’s Special Sixteenth Division in its November 11 decision said Navarro has no legal standing to file the petition for certiorari and that the judgment of acquittal is unappealable.

Navarro filed the petition after a Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) reversed its earlier decision finding Fernandez guilty of conspiring with model Deniece Cornejo and businessman Cedric Lee to coerce the actor into signing the police blotter to admit to raping Cornejo.

The CA also affirmed the RTC’s decision, penned by Judge Marivic Vitor, that Fernandez’s presence during the signing of the police blotter was insufficient to prove conspiracy.

Cornejo and Lee were also earlier convicted of grave coercion but their appeals were dismissed due to lack of merit.

Navarro also claimed there was a mistrial resulting in a denial of due process. The court, however, was unconvinced, saying Navarro failed to show that the trial court hampered the prosecution’s evidence.

The CA said Navarro cannot “feign denial of due process where he had been afforded the opportunity to be heard by the RTC,” and that “parties participated in the appeal proceedings.”

The CA explained: “On the contrary, the records reveal that Navarro and all the accused were not denied the opportunity to be heard as they were required to file their appeal memorandum. More significantly, Fernandez’s Memorandum dated May 2, 2019 as well as Cornejo’s and Lee’s joint Memorandum of Appeal dated May 7, 2019 were duly filed with and admitted by the RTC.”

Navarro is set to be transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City after being under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation since September.

READ: NBI to transfer Vhong Navarro to Taguig City jail