Archive for January 2014
The Vhong Navarro Beating in Forbeswood Heights Condominium

Vhong Navarro in a file photo from Wikipedia.org
I never really followed the news about the beating of Vhong Navarro until I was handed a circular by one of the guards of Forbeswood Heights Condominium. While walking back to the six-tower, medium-rise condominium compound, passing through the first basement entrance from Rizal Drive, the security desk hands me a letter from condominium’s property manager.
Okay, now I’m interested; and here’s the letter.

The circular or letter I received as a tenant of Forbeswood Heights Condominium.
Thirty seven year old Vhong Navarro, real name Ferdinand Hipolito Navarro, is a Filipino actor, comedian, dancer, singer and host at ABS-CBN. He is also part of the dance group Streetboys. While part of the dance group, Navarro was discovered by director Chito S. Roño who continues to manage him. Among the products he has endorsed were Sprite, Pop-Cola, RRJ, Lucky Me, Selecta Ice Cream and Blu Tab. He appears frequently on the Sunday variety show ASAP and in It’s Showtime as a host.
His marriage to Lalaine Bianca Lapus was annuled the Philippine Court of Appeals in 2008. He has two sons from this previous marriage, Fredriek “Bruno” and Isaiah “Yce.”
On January 22, 2014, Navarro was allegedly attacked and severely beaten by a group of men inside a condominium unit in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, now knowingly identified as Forbeswood Heights Condominium along 28th Street and Rizal Drive. According to his manager, Chito Rono, Navarro was invited by a female friend named Deniece Cornejo to visit her in her condominium unit, where he was tied up and blindfolded by several men, threatened and then beaten up. The perpetrator was identified as Cedric Lee, who was also accompanied by several other men during the time of the incident. Following this, it was stated that Navarro will temporarily not be appearing on It’s Showtime and other television projects while he continues to recover.
Navarro was accused of alleged attempted rape which he denied. In an interview with TV host Boy Abunda on Buzz ng Bayan, Navarro said he was apparently set up and the people who beat him up were asking for up to P2 million. On January 29, 2014, one week after the incident, Cornejo filed a rape case against Navarro. But the National Bureau of Investigation said it was impossible that there was an attempted rape on Cornejo, based on the CCTV footage.
The NBI clarified that Cornejo is not the owner of the condominium unit in Forbeswood Heights. The owner has been identified as Soledad Ramos, who was set to appear before the NBI Wednesday yesterday. The NBI yesterday showed the CCTV footage that supports Navarro’s version of events of his beating which left him hospitalized.
Let me stop here as I know there are already hundreds of sources of more detailed news out there, especially the timeline of the beating. Suffice it to say, luring and beating Vhong is the crime which Cornejo and her cohorts have to pay very soon.
Source: Wikipedia | GMA News Online
Photos from @raffypekson, wikimedia.org
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Hennessy Artistry Manila Halo 2014 Photos
I attended both the press conference of the Hennessy Artistry Manila Halo 2014 at the Salon de Ning in The Peninsula Manila last Wednesday and last night’s party at the Samsung Hall inside SM Aura Premier in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.
This year’s fourth “party of the year” features DJ Duo with KimKat (Kim Lee and Kat Nova), Australian pop star Timomatic, the Philippines’ Nicole Arsenio, local cult favorite UrbanDub, and hip-hop DJ and drummer duo Motherbass and DJ Jessica Milner.
Photos by @raffypekson
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PLDT Installs Bohol-Cebu-Cagayan de Oro Fiber Cable System
A P400 million fiber optic submarine cable system has been installed by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), linking the islands of Bohol with its network in the Visayas and Mindanao region. The cities linked together by this massive undertaking are Mactan in Cebu, Loon in Bohol and Kinoguitan in Misamis Oriental. These links connect to PLDT’s fiber optic networks in Jones, Cebu and Cagayan De Oro.
This news comes as a boon to the entire outsourcing industry in the Philippines which relies on fast and reliable data networks in the country. With this upgrade, the earthquake-hit province of Bohol will definitely get a boost in foreign outsourcing locators who may want to set up in the region. Also benefiting from the new telecommunications infrastructure are the tourism and enterprise ICT needs of small, medium (SME) and large companies.
The completion of this 150-kilometer submarine cable system has been the buzz of the information technology (IT) and outsourcing industries since it’s announcement by PLDT President and Chief Executive Officer Napoleon L. Nazareno. Every major broadsheet and online news sites, including foreign ones, have been reporting this announcement.
Sources: World News | Business World | TelecomPaper
Photo by MGM at wikimedia.org
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New York Broadway, Off-Broadway Singers Perform for Yolanda Victims
Playbill.com, the website of the monthly U.S. magazine for theatergoers, reports that a concert-event will be held on January 20, 2014, 9:00pm at Stage 72, the Triad in New York City. Entitled “An Evening of Music and Comedy: Disaster Relief for the Philippines,” the show will include performances from Broadway and Off-Broadway singers and New York City based comedians to raise awareness and much needed funds for the relief effort in the Philippines caused by typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda.
Performers include singers Erik Liberman (Lovemusik), J. Bernard Calloway (Memphis), Melissa Van Pelt, Vanessa Dawson, Steven M. Goldsmith, Chris Critelli, Eliza Hayes Maher, Alia Bisharat and The Manhattan Dolls and comedians Rick Younger, Chris Griggs, Aaron Friedman and Carrie Gravenson.
The show is produced by Vanessa Dawson and hosted by Chelsea Piers. Proceeds will benefit The Red Cross, and a live auction will be held at intermission.
Source: Playbill.com
Photo by Martin Dürrschnabel at wikimedia.org
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