Judge throws curveball into the high-profile case of NRL star’s jailed father

The high-profile case of locked-up Australian Gregor Haas, father of NRL star Payne Haas, has taken an extraordinary turn in the Philippines with a secret and successful bid for him to be recognised as a Filipino citizen.

Facing extradition last year and a possible death sentence in Indonesia for alleged drug offences that he vehemently denies, Haas won a court order on December 16 that was supposed to free him from immigration detention immediately.

Gregor Haas in Manila detention. His lawyer says he has lost close to 30 kilograms.

But instead of going home to his nine children in Australia, he remains in Manila’s rancid Camp Bagong immigration detention facility without charge or explanation, prompting pleas from his family and legal team for the federal government to urgently intervene.

The matter is high stakes and politically charged, as Indonesian investigators feel they are owed by the Philippines and are itching to get Haas on Indonesian soil for questioning and a probable trial. They accuse him of shipping five kilograms of methamphetamine, hidden in ceramic tiles, from Guadalajara in Mexico to Jakarta in December 2023.

Since his dramatic arrest at the behest of the Indonesians in May last year, the Philippines has been wrestling with whether to deport him to Jakarta, where the lobbying has been public and strong, or home to Australia.

Judge Antonio M. Olivete seemingly relieved the government of that choice last month by resolving “that Gregor Johann Haas is a citizen of the Philippines and therefore cannot be subject to summary deportation”.

The Philippines would be unlikely to send a citizen to face extreme penalties in a foreign country.

The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration [BI] has appealed the court’s citizenship decision but Haas’ Australian lawyer Abdul Reslan said the order for his release still stood and that he had not received an official reason as to why his client had not yet been freed.

“Conditions are very difficult – he is losing weight rapidly, has limited food and nutrition, and is in an unhygienic and dangerous environment,” Reslan said.

“We seek urgent government intervention and assistance in the repatriation of Mr Haas to Australia, removing him from the perilous conditions he is being subjected to.

“Mr Haas has complied with, and will continue to comply with, all court and legal processes wherever the jurisdiction may be. We urge the government to ensure that this is from a place where he is safe.”

Foreign detainees are subject to horrendous conditions in the notorious detention facility, on the outskirts of the Philippine capital. It has a reputation for being overcrowded and filthy. People in custody can fall victim to extortion and are provided little or no medical treatment.

Reslan said Haas had lost close to 30 kilograms.

There were means to ensure Haas stayed in the Philippines until the appeal that did not involve a cell, he said. Reslan also said due process could be followed with Haas in Australia, where he could at least receive appropriate medical and psychological care.

If sent to Indonesia and convicted, the amount of seized methamphetamine would be enough to qualify Haas for the death penalty. Though the authorities there took that option off the table in July last year to smooth things over with Australia and sway the Philippines into putting him on a flight, Haas and his legal team had little confidence the Indonesians would stick to their word.

Gregor Haas’ arrest in the Philippines.Credit: Nine News

He has denied all allegations, including his supposed links to the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. He said he had never been to Mexico and claimed his problems in Indonesia began amid a dispute with a business associate, who allegedly had the ears of local authorities, over the acquisition of a resort.

Reslan said his client was desperate to return to his kids, some of whom are school-aged. Haas’ partner and mother of his children, Uiatu “Joan” Taufua, has been in custody since a horror car crash in Queensland that killed three people in 2022.

The surprise citizenship development came about after testimony from his mother Soledad Tolentino Haas, who produced her birth certificate and old Philippine passport, among other items, to prove her own nationality.

While Haas was born in Switzerland in 1978, “the constitution prevailing then was the 1973 constitution which provides Filipino citizenship to those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines,” the court order said.

Brisbane Broncos player Payne Haas (left) and Gregor Haas at the 2019 Dally M Awards.Credit: AAP

The family migrated in 1982 to Australia, where Haas also became – and remains – a citizen. Both Australia and the Philippines allow dual citizenship.

In December 2023, about the time the drugs were seized in Jakarta and six months before his arrest, Haas entered the Philippines on a tourist visa – he was not aware at the time he could qualify to be a Filipino.

Australian government officials are understood to have sought clarification with immigration authorities in Manila about the judgment and Haas’ continued detention.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian man detained in the Philippines,” a DFAT spokesperson said, adding nothing further because of privacy.

Gregor Haas after his arrest in May last year.

The court order, seen by this masthead, said Haas should be released immediately “unless his further detention is warranted by law”. The BI did not answer why Haas had not been freed and if it related to the appeal.

The 46-year-old’s return to Australia would be awkward for the Philippines because it had recently been the happy beneficiary of Indonesian goodwill and strong police work.

Investigators there captured the Philippines’ most wanted woman, former mayor Alice Guo, in September last year and promptly sent her home to face justice amid praise from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Indonesia’s chief of the international division of the national police, Krishna Murti, said at the time he hoped the Philippines would send them Haas in return. That did not happen.

Last month, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto allowed convicted drug trafficker Mary Jane Veloso to return to the Philippines in a similar “goodwill” arrangement to that which allowed the remaining Australian inmates of the Bali Nine to go home after almost 20 years in jail.

Many Filipinos believe Veloso innocent, and her return from Indonesia on the orders of Prabowo was a major political victory for Marcos.

Indonesian police were aware of the developments but did not comment.

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