Australian professional rugby league football club the Brisbane Broncos won its seventh National Rugby League (NRL) title, its first in 19 years, thanks in part to contributions to star Filipino-Australian prop Payne Haas.
Payne was included in this NRL season’s Dally M Team of the Year and Players’ Dream Team, the latter voted by fellow players, and top of four weekly awards from the NRL Fantasy League.
But amid the push for rugby glory, the former Philippine U-16 player has also been putting a lot of effort into finding ways to secure the release of his father Gregor.
The senior Haas was arrested last year in Cebu following an Interpol red notice of due to a criminal case that was filed against him in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s national narcotics board also issued an arrest warrant against Gregor in January that year due to drug smuggling, with Indonesian authorities claiming Gregor is linked to the Mexico-based Sinaloa drug cartel – one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.
Gregor denies the allegation he shipped five kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico. If he were put on trial in Indonesia and found guilty, the crime is sufficient for the death penalty.
The older Haas is still detained at the Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center in Taguig’s Bagong Diwa and Payne’s been looking for different avenues to secure his freedom.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Payne has met with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade numerous times but to no avail.
Payne – who is also of Swiss and Samoan descent, which is why he represents the latter internationally – has even expressed concern for his father’s physical and mental condition in detention, seeking help from local contacts to bring his father home.
“I can’t control what my dad does,” Payne said in a previous interview. “That doesn’t make me less of a man because of what my dad does. That’s the life he chose. I grew up with my parents day to day and I know who they are as people.”
His mother Joan Taugua is incarcerated after a horrific December 2022 car crash in the Gold Coast that resulted in three fatalities. Earlier that July she was arrested for assaulting two casino security guards.
“They’ve made their mistakes, but I can’t control that. That’s their decisions and their life. But my parents also did a lot for me. It’s not all bad about my parents. They’ve made me who I am today,” Payne added.
Payne later also said he doesn’t want his kids to grow up in an environment like his own childhood. Payne has two children, Lalita and infant Luckee, with his partner Leilani Mohenoa and is the legal guardian of two younger siblings.
Last May the Court of Appeals blocked court order releasing Gregor from the custody of immigration authorities and remains detained.