A letter from Luli Arroyo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:47:00 05/10/2008
MANILA, Philippines--This statement concerns the Philippine Daily Inquirer article regarding the Asian Spirit fiasco on their delayed flights last May 1, which quotes an Asian Spirit employee stating that I took a helicopter after my flight on their airline was delayed for hours, and further purporting in a photo caption that I took a presidential chopper.
As usual, PDI did not bother to check on the facts, and worse, maliciously implied through their photo caption that I used my privilege as the daughter of the President to use the presidential helicopter while the rest of the passengers suffered that day. This malice in falsely reporting that I used a government helicopter is the only reason I am responding today, otherwise I do not bother to respond to gossip passed off as news. I would like to point out that GMA News featured the same story on Asian Spirit's delayed flights, but only they bothered to check the facts about my circumstances when they decided to include it in their story.
Below are the relevant facts around my travel that day:
I was traveling with about 50 other persons on the way to the Visayas for a friend's wedding anniversary. Most of the other travelers were foreigners, and many of them were visiting the Philippines for the very first time. Our hosts booked our flights with Asian Spirit from as early as nine months ago. Despite all these preparations, Asian Spirit never informed our hosts in advance that they had planes down that day, and we waited at the airport for more than six hours as well. We were promised lunch by the airline as the other passengers received their meal vouchers, but we were not fed and decided not to complain and add to the chaos.
Our hosts decided that because Asian Spirit could not give us a definite time of departure for our flights, they would charter three flights for the group from other companies. Being one of the few Filipinos based in Manila among the group, I assisted our hosts in making these arrangements and in organizing those of us stranded at the airport.
Our hosts did Asian Spirit a great favor by finding our own solution to the problems they had that day, and freeing up at least 50 seats so they can accommodate other passengers. I was fortunate to be part of a group with hosts who had the means to find our own solution, but never did I offer any government helicopter or plane to be part of this solution. This was a strictly private sector solution for what should have been a private matter for my hosts.
My hosts are private people who don't live in the Philippines and don't have business interests here but who love the country and visit as tourists fairly regularly. They are successful in their careers abroad and family life and have nothing to do with politics or government, so I would appreciate it if their privacy is respected.
Asian Spirit had no right to give any information to the media about any of their passengers, and that they did so in my case, and gave wrong information at that, is a very serious matter and violation of privacy. But apart from Asian Spirit's serious transgression, PDI's decision to print unverified and false information as part of a news story is even worse. As if that were not enough, the editors decided to put malice into their photo caption by juxtaposing a photo of suffering passengers in a crowded airport with embellished wrong information that I had used not just any chopper but a presidential chopper. This is in such contrast to GMA Network's report which included only the facts in their report and which bothered to verify information given to them by "sources."
LULI M. ARROYO
May 5, 2008
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