Pokwang wins deportation case against ex-partner Lee O’Brian

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino host-comedian Pokwang – whose real name is Marietta Subong – has won the deportation case she filed against her ex-partner William Lee O’Brian in June, according to reports by ABS-CBN News and CNN Philippines.

Pokwang’s lawyer Attorney Ralph Calinisan said that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in a December 12 resolution has ordered the deportation of O’Brian for “violating the terms and conditions of his Philippines stay.”

The BI also included O’Brian in their blacklist, cancelled his pre-arranged employment visa, and issued a Warrant of Deportation.

O’Brian repeatedly renewed his tourist visa, which Pokwang said was really “to find work” in the Philippines. He was noted to have an “active involvement in the film, television, and theatrical industry,” but with no special working permit.

Calinisan said that this “constitutes fraud and willful misrepresentation of facts,” and so his work engagements were ust be made accountable, as his repeated renewal of his tourist visa while his work engagements are “violations of limitations under which he was admitted as a non-immigrant.”

In June, Pokwang said she was filing the petition against the father of her child Malia “para sa karapatan ko at ng anak ko, para sa mga kapwa ko babae at sa bayan ko (for my rights, and my child’s rights, for my fellow women, and for my country).”

In a comment to a netizen, she also said, “Anim na taon ko na pala siya palamunin at limang taon walang child support (He’s been mooching off me for six years, and hasn’t given child support in five years)!”

Also in June, O’Brian filed a counter affidavit against Pokwang’s petition for deportation, emphasizing that he had always “put the best interest [of their] daughter first,” and appealed to the local authorities to look at his case “fairly and with justice.” 

Pokwang and O’Brian met in 2014 while working on the film Edsa Woolworth. They were together for six years, and share a daughter, Malia, born in January 2018.

Pokwang confirmed her split from O’Brian in July 2022, though she initially said they had separated on good terms. – Rappler.com