HIP-HOP and pop artist Chris Brown was barred from leaving the Philippines this week because of a contract dispute, according to the Philippines News Agency.
Brown was stopped on the morning of Wednesday, July 22 while preparing to depart on a private jet from Ninoy Aquino International Airport on his way to Hong Kong for a concert.
The Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) said that an lookout order had been issued by the Bureau of Immigration on Tuesday night, July 21, to stop any attempts by the notorious hip-hop and R&B singer to leave the country.
Brown performed a concert that evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena as planned, but the order was put in place to compel him to pay back money that promoters said was owed to them after he failed to appear for a show last New Year’s Eve. That appearance was supposed to take place at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, north of Manila.
The concert was cancelled after Brown claimed he lost his passport a day before his supposed flight to Manila from Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Brown’s Filipino-Canadian concert promoter, John Michael “Mike” Pio Roda, was being held at the Bureau of Immigration in Taguig City, according to officials. Pio Roda had been detained due to an immigration violation.
Pio Roda’s violations were “working without permit and defrauding creditors by absconding,” said Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison.
The absconding issue, Mison said, was also related to Chris Brown’s scheduled New Year’s Eve concert in Bulacan, which was organized by Iglesia ni Cristo.
Accorting to reports, the Maligaya Development Corp. of Iglesia ni Cristo filed the complaint before the Department of Justice, claiming they had already paid Pio Roda—but the promoter regused to return the payment.
The Bureau of Immigration said that both Brown and Pio Roda were included in the immigration lookout bulletin on Tuesday night, but could seek a clearance certificate that could allow them to leave, if the Department of Justice allowed it.
Twenty six-year-old Brown is known for getting himself into trouble.
A few months after Billboard named him Artist of the Year, Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna inside a rented Lamborghini before the Grammy Awards in February 2009. He pleaded guilty to one felony assault count, after which he was put on probation for five years, ordered to serve 180 days of labor-oriented service, and took a yearlong domestic violence class.
Brown publicly apologized, but still remained in the limelight. In 2012, he had an altercation with rapper Drake in New York, and faced several incidents over the years in which he was accused of different assault claims, as well as a hit-and-run in Los Angeles.
Aside from being tested positive for marijuana, prosecutors claimed that Brown didn’t finish his court-mandated community labor, which added to his growing list of ‘bad boy’ legal incidents.
In 2013 and 2014, Brown entered several rehab facilities to “gain insight into his past and recent behavior,” his rep said. After another incident in rehab, Brown was taken into custody by LAPD sheriffs after a judge revoked his probation, and was released from jail in June 2014.
Last week, Brown was the victim of crime after armed intruders burst into his Tarzana home and assaulted his visiting aunt.
On Thursday, July 23, Brown was finally allowed clearance to leave the Philippines and departed Friday on his way to perform in Hong Kong.
“Manila, it was fun. I love you all!” the singer said as he was about to board his private jet, having been issued an emigration certificate by the immigration bureau.
When asked how long Brown’s promoter would be detained, Mison simply said that “[Pio Roda] still needed to answer the allegations against him and settle financial matters with INC.” (With reports from CNN, Inquirer)
