A Taguig court has allowed TV host and actor Vhong Navarro to post bail in connection with the rape case filed against him by model Deniece Cornejo.
In order dated December 5, 2022, Presiding Judge Loralie Cruz Datahan set Navarro's bail to PHP 1 million for his temporary liberty.
“Wherefore, premises considered, the petition for bail is hereby GRANTED. The bail of the accused for his provisional liberty is hereby fixed at One Million Pesos (Php 1,000,000.00),” the order read.
In granting Navarro's bail plea, Judge Dataman emphasized that the credibility of the complainant "is the single most important issue in the prosecution in the rape case."
"The categorical and candid testimony of the complainant suffices, and a culprit may be convicted solely on the basis of her testimony, provided it hurdles the test of credibility,"she noted in her decision.
On November 21, Navarro was transferred to the Taguig City Jail from the National Bureau of Investigation facility in compliance with the November 7 order of the court.
Navarro has been in the custody of the NBI after he surrendered last September. He has a rape case before the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 69 and acts of lasciviousness case at Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) Branch 116.
In 2014, Navarro was accused of raping Cornejo, for which he was beaten up by a group led by businessman Cedric Lee.
Navarro sued Cornejo, Lee, and their cohorts for serious illegal detention. They are out on bail.
Last August, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Department of Justice in 2018 and 2020, which dismissed the rape and acts of lasciviousness complaints filed by Cornejo against Navarro.
