“See you in court. Send your best, it ain’t gonna matter.”
Litigation expert and high profile lawyer Atty. Raymond Fortun threatened to sue Cebu Pacific Air for the supposed recent inconvenience it has caused its passengers.
“Cebu Pacific Airlines, I am suing you. Itaga nyo sa bato (Mark my words). And I am doing this to teach you people a lesson,” Fortun posted on Facebook on Thursday.
In his narration, he was in Vietnam from Nov. 16 to 19. Last Saturday, Nov. 14, he received an email from Cebu Pacific that Manila was a no-fly zone from 6a.m. to 6p.m. on the day of their return, Nov. 19, due to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Since it was a weekend, Fortun decided to call on Monday to check if it was cancelled.
READ: Flights of small planes at NAIA restricted during APEC | Cebu Pac cancels 260 flights during APEC summit in November
“There was a chance that the flight was still a go since the plane would have landed in Manila at 4:45am on Nov. 19, or outside of the no-fly zone advisory,” he posted.
But the next day, Sunday, he received an email from Cebu Pacific saying that he could already check in via web for his return flight to Manila. He thought this meant that the flight would push through.
“I was able to secure boarding passes for our return trip. My second son was participating in a chorale competition this Saturday and initially wanted to back out from the trip; we convinced him to come along as there was now a confirmation that he would be back by Thursday morning,” he said.
But on Wednesday night at 10:45 p.m., they were told at the Cebu Pacific counter that the flight was cancelled.
“The staff claimed that we were sent an email on Nov 17, that the flight was canceled. We did not receive that email,” Fortun said.
Because of the incident, Fortun and his family were stuck in Saigon and incurring expenses.
“So many plans this weekend that are now gone. I was supposed to treat my nephews (who had flown in from the US) to golf today and tomorrow. Gone. I have choir practice this weekend because my choir is singing in our priest’s sacerdotal mass. Gone. I’m supposed to do a photo shoot to celebrate the female body regardless of curves. Gone. My son is despondent because his music teacher/choirmaster would be furious at him. We will have to reuse our soiled clothes as we only brought clothes good for 3 days,” he said.
Fortun suggested that the flights could have been diverted to Clark in Pampanga instead.
He also lamented that Cebu Pacific also did not provide temporary shelter and meals for stranded passengers.
“I argued with the manager to give the other passengers shelter and food, but he could not speak for CebPac management. Well, I didn’t expect him to, as he was just an employee. And he was Vietnamese,” he said.
“How could they do this to their fellow Filipinos in a foreign land? Maybe if your incompetence is exposed, you will realize that “providing a service to the public” requires something else: compassion,” he added. CDG