*Chris Brown was all set to leave the Philippines Wednesday following a packed concert the previous night in Manila, but the government stepped in at the last minute to delay his departure.
Turns out Breezy and his promoter have outstanding fraud allegations in the country over a canceled concert last New Year’s Eve. Brown was prevented from leaving on his private plane Wednesday pending clearance by the Bureau of Immigration.
The singer canceled the New Year’s Eve concert at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena at the last minute, reportedly because he lost his passport the day before the scheduled event.
Iglesia ni Cristo, the religious group that owns the Philippine Arena, petitioned the Department of Justice for help prosecuting Brown and his promoter John Michael Pio Roda. The letter said after making representations that Brown would perform at the concert, and after having fully paid for the two men’s services, Brown failed to appear and perform at the concert, to the damage and prejudice of MDC.
Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Elaine Tan said Brown and Pio Roda were placed on the bureau’s “lookout bulletin” on the instruction of the Department of Justice. Tan said a lookout bulletin is not, on its own, a bar to departure – unlike a hold departure order.
She said the justice department order directs the bureau to “take prudent steps to verify on the status of the criminal case against the subjects. …If the concerned agency raises no objection to the departure, then we will allow the subject to leave,” Tan said.
Brown had a concert scheduled for Wednesday night in Hong Kong, but The AP’s calls to the venue were not answered. A posting earlier Wednesday on the singer’s Twitter account said a concert later this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, was being canceled for unspecified safety concerns but would be rescheduled.
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