Manila Bulletin

Chris Brown confused why he’s stuck in Manila

- By AP and JUN RAMIREZ

In a profanity-laced video, Grammy award-winning singer Chris Brown vented his frustratio­n Thursday at being stuck in the Philippine­s for a second day after running afoul

of a politicall­y powerful religious group that filed a fraud complaint against him for a cancelled concert.

Brown was still in the country Thursday evening and had not applied for the emigration clearance he needs to leave Manila, Immigratio­n Bureau spokeswoma­n Elaine Tan said in a text message to the AP.

The 26-year-old R&B singer was prevented from leaving on a private plane on Wednesday, a day after a packed concert in Manila.

In videos posted on Instagram, Brown clowns around, asking, ``Can somebody please tell me what the (expletive) is going on?’’

“I don’t know, I’m reading headlines after headlines, what the (expletive)!’’ he added, smiling as his companions laugh in the background while sprawled on sofas.

In another video, Brown says when he gets to customs, he will say he did nothing wrong. He then breaks into dance as people laugh.

The expletive-laden video appeared to have been removed from Brown’s Instagram account by Thursday evening.

The dispute traces back to last New Year’s Eve when Brown canceled a concert at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena north of Manila, which is operated by a corporatio­n owned by the politicall­y influentia­l Iglesia ni Cristo religious group.

The 101-year-old group is believed to have more than a million members both in the Philippine­s and abroad and is known to vote as a block in a nation where politician­s often seek endorsemen­ts from church leaders.

The organizers said they were told at that time by Brown’s representa­tive that the singer lost his passport and could not make it to the concert.

In a complaint, the Maligaya Developmen­t Corp. says Brown and his Canadian promoter, John Michael Pio Roda, backed out of the concert after they were paid in full for a $1 million contract.

MDC promoted the concert and sold tickets based on the guarantee that Brown would perform, the complaint alleged.

The religious group asked the Department of Justice for help in prosecutin­g Brown, although no charges have been filed.

Brown was being held while immigratio­n officials consulted with the Justice Department about the case, Tan said.

As of press time yesterday, Brown was still a no-show at the Bureau of Immigratio­n.

BI officials, who requested anonymity, however, stressed that even if Brown and Pio Roda had shown up, they still would not be able to get their ECC because of the estafa complaint that was filed against them by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) before the Department of Justice. (With a report from Leonard D. Postrado)

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