Filipino tv host and actor Vhong Navarro indicted with rape

By Edward Era Barbacena

The Taguig City Prosecutor's Office filed a rape charge against comedian and TV host Vhong Navarro in connection with the complaint filed by model Denice Cornejo that the latter allegedly raped her in 2014.

A one-page information signed by Taguig City senior assistant city prosecutor Irish Del Valle and accepted by the Regional Trial Court this Wednesday stated that the actor raped the model after he got her drunk inside a condominium unit in Taguig City on January 17, 2014.

The prosecutor formally filed the case against the actor after the Court of Appeals (CA) favored Cornejo's petition to annul the earlier order of the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissing the case.

The DOJ had previously dismissed the case due to Cornejo's changing statements in his narrative which weakened his accusation.

However, the CA justices insisted that this type of matters should be carefully examined in lower court proceedings and not in the prosecutor's office.

Meanwhile, Navarro's lawyer, Atty. Alma Mallonga was surprised with  the CA's decision because the model's complaint has been dismissed several times.

Mallonga said that in Cornejo's first complaint affidavit, he insisted that no rape happened on January 17 but he retracted it and insisted that the actor raped him after the latter filed a complaint against him.

"It's an afterthought, it was incredible and as correctly found by the Department of Justice, it is not consistent with human behavior. If as you say you were raped on January 17, why would you even meet up with Mr. Navarro on January 22?” according to Mallonga.

Meanwhile, Navarro's pending motion for reconsideration and status quo ante order in the CA will be resolved before the case is raffled.