Sarah Lahbati appeals complaint vs GMA exec

LAHBATI

MANILA, Philippines—Actress Sarah Lahbati has asked the Quezon City prosecutor’s office to reconsider a ruling that dismissed her grave coercion complaint  against the president of GMA Network Films and four others.

The actress challenged the resolution issued by first assistant city prosecutor Meynardo Bautista Jr. in favor of the respondents led by Anna Teresa Gozon-Abrogar, GMA Network Films president.

Bautista reversed the recommendation of investigating fiscal Edgar Navales, who approved the indictment of Abrogar, Michael Uycoco (Lahbati’s handler), Alberto Muñoz, Andrew Dee and Shiela Buendia of Icons Celebrity Marketing.

In a motion, Lahbati argued that Bautista’s findings in dismissing the case were not supported by evidence, thus warranting a review and further scrutiny of the records presented.

The actress alleged that she, her mother Esther and Uycoco met with Abrogar and Baltazar sometime in December 2011 at a Quezon City restaurant where she was asked to sign a comanagement contract with Icons despite her exclusive contract with GMA.

She claimed to have suffered the consequences of turning down the offer, after she was not paid talent fees for her appearance in several shows.

Through her lawyer Marie Glen Abraham, Lahbati asked the city prosecutor “to allow her to show the allegations and evidence constituting all the elements of grave coercion, which astonishingly the honorable approving prosecutor failed to see.”

The actress also noted how the resolution dismissing her complaint came out after only three working days. When Lahbati’s lawyer followed up the case with Navales’s secretary on Oct. 18, she was told that the case folder was already with Bautista’s office as of Oct. 16.

Lahbati said she found it surprising that Bautista already released his resolution on Oct. 22 or just after three working days.