MANILA, Philippines — Roxanne Cabañero is ready to move on from being a controversial figure for crying rape against actor Vhong Navarro.
Her first step: Joining the Miss World Philippines 2014.
According to a Philippine Entertainment Portal report, Cabañero is one of the 21 finalists in the Miss World Philippines 2014. Actress Megan Young won for the Philippines won the Miss World crown in 2013.
Cabañero said she is hundred percent physically capable to finally get out and join beauty contests. However, she said she is only 70 percent emotionally prepared to move on from being allegedly raped by Navarro.
“Kasi, there was a psychological battle after nu’ng sa case last seven months ago, so I have this feeling na you don’t want to go out sa bahay. And then, sabi nga ng psychologist ko na, ‘you have to go out there and reclaim your confidence again ‘cause talo ka ‘pag hindi ka lumabas,’” she said.
(There is a psychological battle after I filed the case seven months ago. So I have this feeling that I don’t want to get out of the house. My psychologist told me, ‘You have to go out there and reclaim your confidence again, because you will be the one to lose if you don’t.’)
“And ever since naman, when I was teenager pa, gustung-gusto ko talagang maging… alam mo na, beauty queen. And isa sa mga pangarap ko talaga is to get one of the crowns kung papalarin, ‘di ba?” she added.
(Ever since, when I was a teenager, I’ve always wanted to become a beauty queen. One of my dreams is to get one of the crowns, if I’m fortunate.)
She said she joined the pageant so she could regain her confidence.
“One of the reasons I wanted to join the pageant, I wanted to reclaim my confidence again that I’ve lost seven months ago because I was publicly humiliated,” Cabañero said.
She said she is glad her fellow contenders did not judge her.
“I’m very proud to be part of it, the people there support you. They did not judge you, past is past,” Cabañero said.
She said she plans to raise awareness against rape while she is a Miss World Philippines contender.
“I wanted to raise an advocacy to really promote an advocacy against abused women, women who went through sexual violations,” Cabañero said.
The former beauty contest contender surfaced at the height of the rape allegations filed against Navarro by Deniece Cornejo.
Cabañero said she first met Navarro on the noontime show “It’s Showtime” in 2010 and that he fetched her one instance before supposedly going out to have coffee. This was the same time the supposed rape happened.
Navarro was embroiled in a celebrity scandal that fixated public attention when the actor was allegedly beaten up by a group of men that included businessman Cedric Lee in Cornejo’s condominium unit in upscale Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on January 22. Cornejo and Lee are detained in Camp Bagong Diwa on serious illegal detention charges.
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