Nanindigan ang GMA Network na nilabag ng young actress na si Sarah Lahbati ang kanyang kontrata sa istasyon at iniimbestigahan din ito dahil sa umano'y pag-walkout sa isang taping.
Ang pahayag ay inilabas ng network nitong Biyernes bilang pagtugon sa mga mensaheng inilagay ni Sarah sa kanyang Twitter account nitong nakalipas na araw. Sa ulat na lumabas sa Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) nitong Huwebes, inihayag ni Sarah sa kanyang Twitter account na aalis siya ng bansa at
magpapahinga sa showbiz upang ipagpatuloy umano ang pag-aaral sa Switzerland. Inamin din ng aktres na nagkaroon siya ng hindi pagkakaunawaan sa GMA Artist Center na humahawak sa kanyang showbiz career. Tumugon naman dito ang GMA Network na:
1. GMA maintains its position that Sarah Lahbati violated her contract with the network. 2. The walk-out incident from a taping of Sarah Lahbati is still being investigated. We welcome Sarah’s denial that she walked out from that taping and her denial will expedite the action(s) we will take depending on the result of our investigation because there will no longer be any need to ask her to explain. 3. We are not going to comment at this time on the other statements of Sarah Lahbati that has no relevance to the violation of her contract with GMA. 4. Sarah Lahbati was discovered by the network and is a homegrown talent developed, trained, and promoted by the network. Nitong Biyernes, naglabas ng panibagong artikulo ang PEP tungkol sa bagong pahayag ni Sarah sa kanyang Twitter account na nagsasaad na
isang “higante" ang kanyang kalaban gayung nagsasabi lang umano siya ng totoo. Dahil dito, muling naglabas ng pahayag ang Kapuso station upang linawin ang mga pahayag ng aktres. Nilinaw din ng istasyon ang umano'y pag-walkout ni Sarah sa isang taping na dahilan para ma-pack-up ang production team at nasayang P500,000 na ginastos sa paghahanda. Narito ang sumunod na pahayag ng Kapuso station:
"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. Her 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, she 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." Limang taon umano ang kontrata si Sarah sa GMA Artist Center magmula nang manalo siya bilang Ultimate Female Survivor sa
Starstruck V noong 2010. Nitong nakaraang taon, inilunsad si Sarah bilang lead star sa Kapuso series na
Kokak. Kasama rin siya sa inaabangang epic-fantaseryeng
Indio na pinagbibidahan ni Sen. Bong Revilla Jr. —
FRJ, GMA News