MANILA -- (UPDATED) A Taguig court has granted comedian-host Vhong Navarro’s bail petition, allowing him to post bail in the rape case filed by model Deniece Cornejo.

JUST IN: Taguig court grants comedian-host Vhong Navarro’s bail petition, allowing him to post bail in the rape case filed by model Deniece Cornejo.

Court says not convinced there exists presumption leading to inference of guilt on the part of Navarro. pic.twitter.com/x9orhVB2rW

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) December 6, 2022

In a ruling dated Monday, December 5, Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 allowed Navarro to post bail after examining the evidence presented in the bail hearings.

“[T]his Court is not convinced at this point, that there exists a presumption great leading to the inference of the accused’s guilt,” Judge Loralie Cruz Datahan said.

Datahan set Navarro’s bail at P1 million.

In granting Navarro’s bail plea, Taguig court said the complainant’s credibility is the single most important issue in the prosecution of a rape case.

The inconsistencies in Cornejo’s affidavits, according to the court, were “too material to ignore.”

Cornejo had executed 3 affidavits with “different versions” of the alleged rape.

In the first and second affidavits, the court noted there was no allegation that rape took place on January 17, 2014.

The rape claim came more than a year later, in the third affidavit.

On the witness stand, Cornejo tried to explain she was scared to report the first alleged rape incident because Navarro was supposedly supported by his network, politicians and bashers. She also claimed she received threats in the form of victim-blaming.

But the court was not convinced.

“The prosecution, however, failed to adequately explain why the complainant was scared to report the first incident (January 17, 2014), but not scared to report the second one (January 22, 2014), when both supposedly involve rape by the accused,” it said.

Instead, the court looked into Cornejo’s actions after the alleged rape.

In particular, she admitted sending text messages “Bad boy ka” and “sweetie” to Navarro after the incident, saying she wanted to see him again.

The court also considered a video of Cornejo “preening at herself and giggling” after supposedly being raped.

On the witness stand, Cornejo asked, “what’s wrong with that.”

“The foregoing statements of the complainant are, to the mind of this Court, inconsistent with her claim of trauma, and outside the reasonable expectations for someone who just underwent a painful ordeal,” the court said.

The Taguig court ruled the evidence presented so far have failed to establish material allegations in the information or criminal charge.

It cited Cornejo’s admission that Navarro had no weapon, did not threaten or intimidate her, nor beat her up at the time of the alleged rape incident.

In rape cases, it is important, the court said, to prove that the accused employed force, threat or intimidation on the victim.

The court also said there was no other proof Cornejo was drugged other than her testimony.

Cornejo, it noted, admitted to not seeing Navarro put something on her drink and she did not present any medical test result.

Why did Cornejo not have herself checked for the presence of drugs? “Because I’m not sure about it,” the court quoted her as saying.

The court added Cornejo was able to text, talk, walk, change her clothes and leave her condominium unit to sleep at her friend’s place after Navarro supposedly raped her.

She confirmed she was not unconscious nor fully deprived of her will power.

Aware of the sensitive nature of a rape charge, Judge Datahan said she relied on 3 principles in examining Cornejo’s claims against Navarro, based on the evidence presented so far during the bail hearings:

* It is easy to accuse rape but difficult to prove; even more difficult to disprove the allegation

* The testimony of the complainant should be scrutinized with great caution

* The prosecution’s evidence must stand and fall on its own merit

The rape allegation against Navarro came to light after the comedian-host was mauled on January 22, 2014 by the group of businessman Cedric Lee, Cornejo’s friend, who supposedly rushed to rescue Cornejo.

But CCTV footage presented by the NBI showed Cornejo taking the elevator to go down the condo building and was therefore not in the condo unit when Lee and his companions arrived to supposedly rescue her, according to NBI assistant regional director Vicente de Guzman in January 2014.

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Navarro was tied up inside Cornejo’s unit and brought to a Southern Police District station supposedly so he could confess to raping the model.

That incident became the subject of a separate case grave coercion case, for which Lee, Cornejo and others were convicted, and another serious illegal detention case which remains pending.

• Cedric Lee, Deniece Cornejo guilty of grave coercion for mauling Vhong Navarro

Meantime, the Justice Department dismissed the rape charges against Navarro due to inconsistencies in Cornejo’s affidavits, only to be reversed by the Court of Appeals this year.

• CA orders filing of rape, acts of lasciviousness charges vs Vhong Navarro

Navarro is currently detained at the Taguig City Jail. His lawyers are hoping to process his release within the day.

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