House probe of airline’s treatment of PWDs urged

The party-list group Akbayan has asked the House of Representatives to look into budget carrier Cebu Pacific’s treatment  of persons with disabilities (PWDs) after passenger Socorro Jabor recounted her recent experience with the airline.

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello said the group would see to it that the airline was made accountable for its “terrible treatment” of disabled passengers.

Jabor, a bilateral leg amputee, said in media interviews that she was forced to crawl down the airplane ramp in Singapore last week after Cebu Pacific failed to inform her that she had to pay P11,000 to use a wheelchair lift. Cebu Pacific pinned the blame for her predicament on the travel agent who arranged Jabor’s flight.

“This is a question of command responsibility. The burden is on Cebu Pacific and all other airlines to ensure the safety and convenience of all their passengers, and they should be doubly attentive to the needs of PWDs who are flying with them,” Bello said.

Bello also took exception to the Civil Aeronautics Board statement that it was industry practice to charge PWDs an extra fee for the use of wheelchair lifts. He said this revealed a bigger problem in ensuring the free and unimpeded mobility of PWDs.

“It’s not correct to ask persons with disabilities to pay for their physical condition,” Bello said. “A wheelchair lift, or any other facility that would ensure the mobility of PWDs, should be made readily available to anyone who needs it.”

“Akbayan strongly believes that it is the government’s duty to ensure that PWDs live a life of dignity, and that includes the right to unimpeded travel and mobility,” Bello said.

Last year, Bello led investigations into drug retail giant Mercury Drug Corporation’s refusal to provide PWDs a 20-percent discount on medicine, as stipulated by law. The investigations resulted in the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Mercury Drug and the committee on social services that sealed the leading chain of drugstore’s commitment to honor the 20-percent discount.

Reports quoted Cebu Pacific vice president for communications Candice Iyog as explaining that PWDs flying to Singapore are usually told beforehand that they would have to pay extra to use a wheelchair lift at the airport.

Iyog said that “direct booking channels already indicate [the fee] clearly.”

“We’ve sent a reminder to travel agencies to make sure to inform passengers about the wheelchair lift fee charged by the (Singaporean) ground handler at Changi budget terminal,” she said.

She also said that Cebu Pacific does not set the fee for  the wheelchair lift at the Singapore airport as it was a cost that was passed on. Airline personnel tried to help Jabor and her husband to disembark but they refused, she added.

The Ultimate Wheelchair Sports Foundation website lists Jabor as the president of the Federation of the Disabled in Cavite and the Association of Persons With Disabilities of Tagaytay City.