Cabanero’s sworn affidavit, contradicted by Vice Ganda and hotel director

Photo Courtesy of ABS-CBN news

MANILA, Philippines – Roxanne Acosta Cabanero, a former beauty pageant contender filed a rape case against TV host-actor Vhong Navarro at the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

According to her sworn affidavit, she met Navarro on April 24, 2010 when she, along with the other contestants of a beauty contest watched the noontime show “Showtime” where Navarro was one of the hosts.

She added that a staff of the show approached her and said that Navarro was asking for her number. The aspiring beauty queen then gave her number and revealed that she was flattered with the attention that the actor had given her. Soon after, she agreed to meet Navarro; she said that she was picked up by the comedian at Astoria hotel in Pasig City where she and her fellow contestants were staying.

She said that Navarro violated her while inside the car. The incident happened around midnight, she added.

In an interview with GMA news, she explained why she didn’t report the incident right away, “Nahihiya ako eh… Takot kasi ako, I was scared, I was young…Kasi alam kong wala akong laban at takot ako kasi baka patayin niya ako eh.” (I was embarrassed… I was scared, I was young… Because I knew I had no chance against him and I was scared because he might kill me).

Cabanero added that Navarro brought her back to the hotel after the alleged rape incident, threatening her not to tell anyone about what happened. She said that one of her co-contestants saw her as she went down the car.

Contradicting statements

Following the new rape case filed against Navarro, sources surfaced, contradicting Cabanero’s sworn statement.

In an interview with “Buzz ng Bayan” on Sunday, Feb. 23, Vice Ganda said that she was indeed with Vhong Navarro on April 24, 2010. The show, he said, started at 9:30 p.m. and ended at around 12:30 a.m.

“Nung araw na nagpunta sila para mag-promote ng pageant [sa ‘It’s Showtime’], hindi ko na po ‘yun naaalala. Nung nalaman ko ‘yung date, ipinaalala ng mga tao na concert ko ‘yun at guest ko sila Kean Cipriano and Vhong Navarro. Sa Cavite po ang leg ng concert ko na ‘yun,” he said.

( The day when they went to promote the pageant on “It’s Showtime,” I could hardly remember. When I learned about the date, people reminded me that it was my concert and my guests were Kean Cipriano and Vhong Navarro. That leg of my concert was in Cavite).

In the same interview, Astoria Plaza project director Ric Valenzuela denied that Cabanero and other contestants stayed in their hotel on April 24, 2010, “Actually that event was offered to us but unfortunately the event organizer was asking for too many rooms because of the candidates. We could not accommodate them all. We have limited rooms here. We declined the offer of the promotion.”

He added, “They decided to transfer to another hotel. We did the negotiations with the event manager but it didn’t push through… That one is confirmed because I was the one who negotiated for that. Confirmed na we declined because we cannot provide the rooms.”

“We checked the database. These are the arrivals and guestings from April 22 to 25 para covered because we don’t know how many days. There was none. There was no Roxanne Cabanero.”

In Cabanero’s sworn affidavit, it was mentioned that Navarro sent her a message on the night of April 24, 2010, asking if he could meet her at her hotel room in Astoria Plaza in Pasig City, which she declined as she was with the other candidates.