Deniece Cornejo’s full complaint affidavit contains shocking details

Earlier this month, journalist Tony Calvento shared the scanned pages of Deniece Cornejo’s affidavit about how she got to know Vhong Navarro and the events that transpired on Jan 22. We simply re-typed the passages featured in the scanned pages on Calvento’s Facebook page as is.

Below is the full version of Deniece Cornejo’s affivadit:

I, DENIECE MILLINETTE CORNEJO, Filipino, of legal age, with address at c/o Calleja Law Office, West Tower, Unit 1903-A, Philippine Stock Exchange Center, Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig, after having sworn in accordance with the law, depose and state that:

1. I am a working student from La Salle, but not currently enrolled and work as a motivational speaker and an aspiring model for various brands.

2. As a motivational speaker, I am invited to speak before difference audiences with the aim of providing them with tools to enhance themselves and strengthen their character. On the other hand, as an aspiring model, I am exposed to various promotional endorsements and product launches.

3. It was through one of these product launches that I first met Kuya Vhong. Sometime in the year 2011, during an event in Glorietta by the shoe brand VANS, of which Kuya Vhong was an endorser, I was shopping for shoes for my brothers when Kuya Vhong exclaimed, “Ang ganda talaga…” while staring at me. His companion, Xanjo Marudo, without introductions suddenly asked me “Para sa boyfriend mo?” After that incident, I noticed that Kuya Vhong kept trying to follow where I went at the event.

4. During the same event, personnel from VANS asked for my mobile number, and I, being an aspiring model, obliged. To my surprise days later, someone called me saying, “Hi, Denise, this is Vhong.” I was surprised by how he was able to obtain my number and deduced that he obtained it from the VANS promotional event where I first saw him. His intention for calling according to him was to ask me out for a date. 

5. Later on, he became a follower of my fan page and got into the habit of sending me SMS messages under the guise of asking me how I was and trying to be friends with me. Out of courtesy, I would occasionally reply with curt and nonchalant replies since I did not want to seem like a snob and in keeping with my status as a motivational speaker and role model. I also felt obliged to reply to his incessant messages because of his celebrity status.

6. I remember one incident in the year 2012, while I was having dinner with my then boyfriend in a restaurant in Makati near the Manila Peninsula Hotel, Kuya Vhong together with his friends, waved at me and I instinctively waved back.

7. Several months later in the year 2013, I decided to join an instant messaging application called Viber and surprisingly through Viber, Kuya Vhong sent me a message saying, “Si Vhong ito, kumusta ka na?” And then after that, a long series of messages were sent by Kuya Vhong to me asking me out dinner and drinks. Not stopping there, Kuya Vhong also sent me personal messages through the social networking site Facebook with similar messages.

8. I notice that the Facebook private messages from the Kuya Vhong came from his personal account and this he cannot deny. It was an ordeal that I had to contend with Kuya Vhong’s incessant desire to take me out to dinner or drinks via all possible technology including but not limited to Viber, Facebook and SMS.

9. As I thought the messages between us were only considered as communications between friends, I obliged to reply to some of his messages but always declined his invitations to go out with him by saying that I had a lot to do or was busy as I really was busy with my work and studies. Kuya Vhong would always retort, “Drawing ka naman…” by which I suppose he meant that I was simply making excuses.

10. This exchange of messages between us continued for sometime, until I eventually began to think that Kuya Vhong was a nice guy. Thereafter, we became friends and would chat or talk on the phone on a semi-regular basis.

11. Little did I know that this friendly banter would result in a very traumatic and regrettable experience in the month of january 2014.

12. A few days before January 17, 2014, Kuya Vhong called me again with the intention of asking me out on a date. By then I was already comfortable with my semi-regular converstaions with him given that we were in constant communication with each other so I accepted his invitation to go out on a date on Friday, January 17. I had already made plans to meet up with a girl friend on Friday night so I knew I would not be alone with him.

13. Kuya Vhong told me, “Ang problema kasi ayaw ko matsismis.” I realized also that it might be better not to go out in public because we might get talked about because of Kuya Vhong’s celebrity status, so we decided to stay at my condominium unit at Forbeswood, BGC, Taguig City.

14. On 17 January 2014, I went out for dinner with a couple of friends in the Fort area. Later that night, my girl friend called me and said that she will try her best to come over that night and I told her that i would wait for her. After a few minutes, Kuya Vhong called me up and said he was already downstairs in the lobby. I went down to the lobby to meet him and even introduced him to the guard on duty.

15. When we reached my unit, Kuya Vhong went inside and sat down on the sofa while I closed the door behind me, but leaving it unlocked, which is my habit whenever I have visitors over. I went over to my study table and continued doing some work on my laptop while waiting for my girl friend to arrive.

16. Kuya Vhong had brought a bottle of wine with him and offered it to me. He poured some wine for himself and I declined since I am not really a drinker. During this time, I was still preoccupied with some work and did not join Kuya Vhong in the living area, which is why he commented to me, “Ano ba yan… magkikita tayo tapos trabaho ng trabaho. Hindi ka nag-eentertain ah.”

17. I replied that we were still waiting for my girlfriend to arrive that’s why I was still finishing some work before we could all hang out. Kuya Vhong remarked, “Ah talaga, akala ko tayong dalawa lng.” I told him no, my friend said she’s still coming over. So I continued with my work while Kuya Vhong tried to make light conversation with me.

18. After some time, my girl friend called and said that she wouldn’t be able to join us anymore because it was already late. I told Kuya Vhong that my friend could no longer make it so I told him, “I’m sorry but you have to go na rin.” Kuya Vhong teased me saying, “IKaw ah, kala mo parang hindi naman kapatid trato ko sayo. Anong feeling mo may gagawin ako sayo?” I asked him to leave.

19. He tried to insist that I let him stay longer and even made jokes about sleeping over, which I just dimissed as playful banter. I told him, “No, di talaga pwede” so finally Kuya Vhong conceded and said, “Cge, next time na lang. BUmawi ka sa akin.” Thereafter, Kuya Vhong left my unit by himself.

20. Over the next few days, Kuya Vhong and I continued exchanging messages over SMS and Viber like we also do. On 22 January 2014, Wednesday at around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., Kuya Vhong called me up and asked if I was home. I had just gone out to Ministop to buy a few things so I told Kuya Vhong I was just on my way.

21. I had plans to go out with some friend who were set to pick me up at my unit later that night but thought to myself that Kuya Vhong probably wouldn’t take long anyway and I didn’t want him to feel bad considering that he was even offering to bring me some food, so I said okay. When I got to my building, I told the guard, “Kuya may pupunta dito ah, yung kaibigan kong si Vhong” to avoid the hassle of habing the guard call my unit once Luya Vhong arrives and to save more time.”

22. After a few minutes, Kuya Vhong called me up and said that he had forgotten my unit number so he asked me to meet him in the lobby. I went to the elevator on my floor and was surprised when it opened and Kuya Vhong was already inside. We went back to my unit together and I unlocked the door and even told him, “Pasensya ah, naglilinis ako ng bahay.” Kuya Vhong went and sat down on my sofa while I went back to kitchen to finish putting away the things I bought from Ministop earlier.

23. While I was busy in the kitchen, I offered Kuya Vhong some juice or refreshments, he came over and patted me on the back and said, ‘Okay lang ako.’ He started joking around with me a little bit and began stroking my hair, my back and my arm. It was then that I started to feel uneasy and uncomfortable. The vibe between us suddenly changed and I felt I had to do or say something, so I told him, “Kuya, ayaw ko. Sorry hindi ko talaga ito magagawa.”

24. Kuya Vhong became irritated. I was shocked because he brusquely pulled at my hair and dragged me towards the sofa and tried to get on top of me. I tried to pull away from him by kicking and flailing around and I was able to get away from his clutches and my first instinct was to run to my bedroom and to get my cellular phone.

25. My bedroom and the living are is separated only by a curtain so it really didn’t provide me any protection against Kuya Vhong and he was able to reach me again before I could grab my cellular phone.

26. Kuya Vhong pinned me down to the bed and was kissing me all over while I kept on kicking, shouting and trying to get myself free from him. Kuya Vhong again roughly pulled at my hair with one hand while pulling down his pants and underwear with the other. Kuya Vhong was already completely on top of me, half-naked and he tried to unzip my shorts but it wouldn’t budge because it was jammed or stuck. All this time, I could hear my phone ringing but couldn’t reach it.

27. Kuya Vhong still had his hands clutched tighly to my hair and tried to push my head towards his genitals. I tried to resist but the hair pulling was really painful and it felt like my scalp was going to be pulled out of my head. He succeeded in mashing my entire face, my mouth, my nose and chin right into his genitals. I couldn’t get free because he was pinning me down with his weight and pulling on my hair the entire time.

28. Kuya Vhong continued to pull my hair and forced my face into his genitals, despite my cries of “No, huwag po.” He kept pushing his penis into my mouth and I tried with all my might to push him away but as he was on top of me with his full weight, my protests were to no avail. He began unzipping my shorts with the obvious intention of inserting his penis to my private part. At this point, I was already very hysterical and scared because I knew that he was not going to stop until he successfully did what he was planning to do, which was to rape me.

29. Unable to unzip my shorts, he somehow managed to lift one leg of my shorts and pulled at my underwear exposing my private part and allowing him to force his penis towards my private part. At that point, I felt that his hard penis was already touching my private part as I continued to try and push him away from me. He was pushing his hard penis into my vagina, leaving me without any other recourse except to continuously struggle; I was certain that Kuya Vhong was going to have his way with me. While all of this was happening, I was trying with all my might to shout and call for help.

30. It was only by a miracle that my friends suddenly appeared to help me. I suddenly felt the weight of Kuya Vhong taken away from me and when I was free, I ran to the first person I saw who was a female friend of mine. I was crying, inconsolable and hysterical.

31. As I tried to understand what went on, my friend took me out of my condominium unit down to the poolside to console me and allow me time to gather my senses.

32. My friend tried to console me and calm me down. When I was over the initial shock of everything that just happened, we went back inside and I insisted to my friends that we had to report what happened. I told them we had to bring Kuya Vhong to the police station. I demanded that we bring him to the station because I was so angry, humiliated and violated. I was not about to just let the incident go as if nothing had happened.

33. While we were in the elevator, I saw Kuya Vhong, and I felt I was so betrayed and hurt, I just kept crying quietly to myself the whole time we were in the elevator.

34. With the intention of filing a case of rape against Kuya Vhong, my friends and I deemed it wise to go to a police station and have a blotter taken by the police. At the police station, we spoke with the desk officer assigned at the time and we gave our statement.

During this whole time, Kuya Vhong was pleading incessantly saying, ‘Huwag n’yo po ‘to ilabas sa media, masisira ang career ko at kawawa ang mga anak ko.’ He said this on and on to the point of exhaustion. we were at the police station for more than one hour with him continuously begging, saying the same thing about not releasing this matter to the media.”

35. It was also at the police station that Kuya Vhong alternately pleaded not to release this matter to the media and offered the amount of PHP2000,000, which escalated to PHP500,000 and eventually reached the amount of PHP800,000.

36. Given Kuya Vhong’s incessant pleas for me to not pursue the case of rape against him, together with the fact that I was going through a very traumatic and emotional experience, I was very confused as to what should be done. I knew then that if this matter was blown out of proportion that I will be involved in a very tedious, painful, and harrowing case.

37. As I stated, I am a motivational speaker and as such I espouse the belief of strength in adversity and courage in trial. Plus, I was already very exhausted at that point so I decided not to pursue the case. Instead, we continued and finished only with the police blotter so as to protect my honor and there be a proper record of what Kuya Vhong had done to me.

38. From the police station, we parted ways, I went back to my unit for a few moments and left. I decided to sleep over at a friend’s place because I did not want to relive the trauma inside my unit. I returned to my unit at the Fort the next day to find my unit ransacked and robbed. Since then, I have never returned to my unit.

39. I am advised that Kuya Vhong is also liable for Rape under Article 266-A for the incident which took place on 22 January 2014, thus:

1. By a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances:

a. Through force, threat or intimidation;

xxx

2. By any person who, under any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph 1 hereof, shall commit an act of sexual assault by inseting his penis into another person’s mouth or anal orifice of another person. (R.A> No. 8353, Oct. 22, 1997.)

40. The elements of Rape under Article 266-A are as follows:

40.1. That the offender is a man;

40.2. That the offender had carnal knowledge of a woman;

40.3. That such an act is accomplished by using force or intimidation.

41. All the foregoing elements are present during the 22 January 2014 incident, thus:

41.1. Kuya Vhong, the offender is a man;

41.2. Kuya Vhong had carnal knowledge of me;

41.3. And that such act was accomplished by using force and intimidation.

42. I am further advised that Kuya Vhong is also liable under Section 5 of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 or RA 9262, thus: 

[Section 5 of RA 92 62 is cited.]

43. I am executing this Complaint-Affidavit to attest to the truth of the foregoing and in support of the filing of appropriate criminal charges against Kuya Vhong for Rape under Article 266-A of the RPC, in relation to Section 5 of RA 9262. Kuya Vhong may be served subpoena at his address [Vhong Navarro’s address is cited].

I SAY NOTHING FURTHER.

This story was updated on Feb 25, 2014.

Photo from Deniece Cornejo’s Instagram page