Sarah Lahbati, 19-year-old Fil-Swiss star of Regal Films’ “Seduction” allegedly violated her contract in GMA-7.

According to reports, Sarah Lahbati will fly back to Switzerland to pursue her studies due to a "misunderstanding" with GMA management.

In response, GMA Network issued its official statement which reads:

"Last December, Sarah Lahbati unilaterally decided to take a leave of absence of one (1) month from GMA Network, because she said she wanted to de-stress and unwind. Because her reasons were vague, they were not accepted by management. While we understand that work in our industry can be stressful (as in any business), we believe that this is not only unavoidable in most cases, but also a part of what one does as a professional and/or performing artist.

Sarah Lahbati's leave of absence was also disapproved by management because of her pending obligations (i.e. Party Pilipinas, on-going promos and other endorsement commitments). However, on the evening of Jan 2, she tweeted that she will be going to Switzerland to study, despite the disapproval given to her last December on taking a leave. This is in violation of her contract, because she has to perform and appear in programs and events assigned to her, and make herself available to faithfully and promptly fulfill all engagements contracted for her by GMA.

At the same time, Sarah has yet to address the issue of her walking out during taping, which caused the production team to pack-up, and incur an additional cost of 500k. She is therefore, currently under investigation and the network is still studying on what actions to take.

Sarah Lahbati also mentioned that she signed a contract with Royal Era Entertainment, the talent management company ran by Annabelle Rama, mother of her boyfriend, Richard Gutierrez. But the latter denied in a phone interview with Yahoo! Philippines OMG!

Source: Yahoo OMG!

Photo Gallery of Sarah Lahbati