Stuntwoman appeals rape case vs Vhong

MANILA, Philippines - A stuntwoman who filed rape charges against actor-host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro has appealed the resolution of the Quezon City prosecutor’s office that dismissed the case.

In a seven-page motion for reconsideration, the complainant asked the prosecutor’s office to reverse the earlier ruling as it failed to appreciate the circumstances that led to the commission of the crime.

Last month, assistant city prosecutor Nilda Ordoño recommended the dismissal of the rape charge against Navarro as the complainant failed to establish that there was “assertions of force, threat or intimidation or grave abuse of authority.”

 “There was no evidence that (Navarror) threatened her with physical harm or with a weapon if she would not submit to his desires,” read the resolution approved by chief prosecutor Donald Lee.

“There is no reason for the complainant to be afraid of (Navarro) so as to just follow whatever he required her to do as the incident allegedly happened ‘with lots of other people around outside,’” it added.

In her complaint filed in April, the complainant said the alleged rape happened in Navarro’s sport utility vehicle in early 2009, during the last few weeks of the taping of a telenovela starring the actor. She was working as a stunt double at the time.

The complainant said the actor’s driver asked her to go inside the SUV because Navarro wanted to talk to her during a break in the taping.

In her appeal, she claimed that the investigating prosecutor accorded great weight to mere denial and alibi as defense instead of giving credence to her testimony.

In his counter-affidavit, Navarro said the supposed rape happened more than five years ago, casting doubts on the credibility of the charge itself and of the complainant.

Navarro added that the complainant is physically fit, agile and strong and could “have easily pushed him away during their tryst and cold have struggled in the course of their ordeal.”