The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the rape and lasciviousness charges filed against television host Ferdinand "Vhong" Navarro by Deniece Cornejo due to a lack of probable cause.
The tribunal dismissed the charge of rape pending before the Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 69 and the charge of acts of lasciviousness pending before the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 116 in a 43-page decision published online Monday.
"Having determined that the Department of Justice (DOJ) committed no grave abuse of discretion in affirming the finding of lack of probable cause against Navarro, the Court, in the interest of justice and fair play, is constrained to dismiss the subject information against him," the tribunal ruled in setting aside the July 21, 2022 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA).
"Under the circumstances, the CA simply had no basis to reverse the prosecutor's finding of lack of probable cause. On the contrary, it is the CA that disregarded such parameters when it substituted its own judgment for that of the prosecution's finding of lack of probable cause against Navarro," the SC pointed out.
The high court also stated that "the inconsistencies in her (Cornejo's) allegations are not trivial, minor, or insignificant."
"No amount of skillful or artful deportment, manner of speaking, or portrayal in a subsequent court proceeding could supplant Cornejo's manifestly inconsistent and highly deficient, doubtful, and unclear accounts of her supposed harrowing experience at the hands of Navarro," the court said.
Cornejo claimed the rape took place in her condominium unit on January 17 and 22, 2014.
Navarro, 45, claimed the acts were consensual and that he was ambushed shortly after the alleged rape by Cornejo's "friend" and businessman Cedric Lee, who allegedly demanded PHP1 million in retaliation.
Cornejo filed three separate complaints on January 29, February 27, and October 16, 2015.
The first complaint was dismissed by DOJ prosecutors on April 4, 2014; the second by the Office of the City Prosecutor of Taguig City on July 4, 2014; and the third by the Office of the City Prosecutor of Taguig City on September 6, 2017&mdash;all for lack of probable cause.

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SC division orders dismissal of rape, acts of lasciviousness charges vs Vhong Navarro