Vice Ganda helps Vhong Navarro vs 2nd rape complaint

The comedian and TV host known as Vice Ganda on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Pasig City prosecutor’s office seeking to disprove the rape charge filed last week by a 24-year-old woman against his friend and “It’s Showtime” cohost, Vhong Navarro.

The ABS-CBN star, Jose Marie Borja Viceral in real life, detailed Navarro’s whereabouts on the night that complainant Roxanne Acosta Cabanero claimed she was raped at Astoria Plaza Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City.

In the affidavit, Viceral said Navarro was a guest performer at his concert at Island Cove Resort in Cavite province when the alleged rape took place on April 24, 2010.

Viceral later posted a message on Twitter: “In the name of truth.”

In an interview with court reporters, Cabanero’s legal counsel Virgilio Batalla dismissed Viceral affidavit as “irrelevant” to the case against Navarro, noting that his client never mentioned the date of the alleged abuse in her complaint.

“It will not affect our case,” Batalla said. “That’s just their interpretation. (Navarro’s camp) is just using this for publicity. They’re trying to show that Vhong is innocent.”

Cabanero is a former contestant of Slimmers World Miss Bikini Philippines in 2009 and Miss Resorts World 2010. She joined the Bb. Pilipinas pageant in 2011 but was disqualified by organizers after her alleged photos showing her in nude surfaced online.

Her rape complaint came weeks after another woman, 22-year-old commercial model Deniece Cornejo, filed a similar charge against Navarro, citing an incident at her condo on Jan. 22. Navarro, on the other hand, sued Cornejo and seven others, including businessman Cedric Lee, for allegedly setting him up for mauling and extortion.