Actress Sarah Lahbati returns

SARAH Lahbati

MANILA, Philippines—Controversial actress Sarah Lahbati is back in the Philippines to face several cases filed against her in January this year, a TV report said early Friday.

GMA’s morning news-and-public affairs show, “Unang Hirit,” reported she arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport before Thursday midnight aboard Etihad flight 428 from Abu Dhabi.

She was reportedly accompanied by real-life boyfriend, actor Richard Gutierrez.

Lahbati is facing a libel case filed by lawyer and GMA Network executive Annette Gozon-Abrogar for posting on her Twitter account about management conflicts that Gozon-Abrogar allegedly committed.

Also in January, GMA7 filed a P8.5-million lawsuit against Lahbati for breach of contract.

Lahbati’s conflict with GMA started in November last year when she walked out of a taping for the prime-time fantaserye “Indio”.

On December 11, 2012, she filed for a one-month leave of absence.

On January 13, 2013, she left Manila aboard an Etihad Airways flight to the United Arab Emirates. She reportedly went on vacation in Geneva, Switzerland, where her parents live.

A Swiss citizen, Lahbati has a Moroccan father and a Filipino mother.

In 2009, she signed with GMA7 an exclusive contract after winning in the network’s talent search “Starstruck V”.

Her contract with GMA7, based on an earlier INQUIRER report, started on February 22, 2010 and would have to end on February 21, 2015.

Gozon-Abrogar said in a recent INQUIRER report that Lahbati can still post bail.