More than a week after actress Pokwang filed a petition for deportation for her ex-boyfriend Lee O’Brian, it looks like the American actor has decided to go on the offensive by filing a counter-affidavit against her complaint. Lee also included an appeal to the local government to look at his case fairly and with justice. The update was shared by TV5 entertainment reporter MJ Marfori on her personal Instagram page last June 27. 

In the video clip, Lee çan be seen outside the Bureau of Immigration holding his petition. He said, “Just filed a counter-affidavit to the complaint filed by Marietta Subong (Pokwang’s legal name). What I’d like to say is first of all, above everything, I always have respect for the mother of my child. Second of all, because this is kind of a quasi-judicial issue for the Bureau of Immigration, I cannot comment on the details. That’s just the nature of the issue.”

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In the same post, Lee also acknowledged the range of influence his ex-partner may have in the country compared to him.

“Given the fact that the complainant is very well-known, widely known throughout this country and very, very influential, I am basically asking and pleading with the Philippine government and the Bureau of Immigration to look at my case, my deportation case, fairly and with justice,” he added.

In her petition for deportation against Lee, Pokwang stated that her former partner has allegedly has been using a tourist visa while working in the country for the past eight years.

READ: Pokwang petitions deportation for ex-partner Lee O’Brian: ‘Sobrang masakit’

In response to Lee’s petition, Pokwang released the following statement from her legal counsel Ralph Calinisan, as posted through her Instagram Stories last June 26. “We maintain that Mr. William Lee O’Brian must be deported immediately from the Philippines. Undesirable aliens have no place in this country.”

After meeting on the set of the 2014 film EDSA Woolworth which was shot in San Francisco, California, Pokwang and Lee dated for six years before Pokwang went public with their separation. The couple have a five-year-old daughter together named Malia.