MANILA, Philippines?A businessman and his wife are set to file a multimillion-peso lawsuit against Cebu Pacific Airlines and one of its pursers for allegedly trying to force the woman and their teenage son who has a disability off a plane?because it was against company policy to have two passengers with a ?mental illness? on the same flight.

Lawyer Salvador Panelo, counsel for Gerry and Maritess Alcantara, told the Inquirer on the phone Thursday the couple would file a case in court this week and ask for damages ?in the vicinity of P10 million.?

The airline has apologized for the incident, which occurred on Dec. 23 when Maritess Alcantara and her 14-year-old son, John Arvin, boarded a Cebu Pacific plane in Hong Kong to fly to Manila.

Misinterpretation

?Cebu Pacific has no policy that discriminates against persons with special needs. The attempt to offload a passenger with a developmental disability was a result of the cabin crew?s misinterpretation of government regulations designed to assure the safety of passengers,? the airline said in a statement.

Panelo said that just before takeoff, a flight purser identified as John Castañeda, in a ?rude and arrogant manner,? told the Alcantaras to deplane, saying that airline policy prohibited having more than one person with a ?mental illness? on the same flight.

Alcantara ?stood her ground,? Panelo said, until the pilot relented and allowed them to remain on the plane.

Panelo said his clients decided to file a case against Cebu Pacific and Castañeda after they learned that the airline?s policy was not intended for special children but for mentally ill passengers.

?The policy is clear that special children are not included in the airline?s prohibition. The manual has an addendum that a special child is not classified as being mentally ill,? Panelo said.

For its part, Cebu Pacific on Thursday said it had apologized to the Alcantaras.

?Cebu Pacific has apologized to the passenger and sincerely regrets the incident. It has also taken all the necessary measures to make sure similar incidents do not happen again and that passengers with special needs are properly attended to,? the airline said.

While Cebu Pacific has apologized, Panelo said, it only ?added insult to injury.? With a report from Jerome Aning