Parents in Philippines file charges against airline that forced son with Down syndrome to deplane

From Philippine Daily Inquirer:

MANILA, Philippines -- A fight for the rights of children with special needs.

This was how lawyer Salvador Panelo described the decision of the parents of a teenage boy who was allegedly forced to deplane from a Cebu Pacific flight because he was "mentally ill" to formally file charges against the airline on Jan. 21.

"Special children have equal rights as us. They are human beings who shouldn't be treated like that," Panelo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.

Panelo said that his clients, Gerry and Maritess Alcantara, filed a P5-million damage suit against Cebu Pacific before the Antipolo City prosecutor's office.

"It's a damage suit for the unlawful acts of Cebu Pacific for attempting to offload the mother and her child... for abusing a special child," Panelo said.

The couple slapped Cebu Pacific with charges of violating Republic Act 7610, a special law that prohibits minors from being subjected to abuse and harassment and Republic Act 7277, the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities.

The lawyer added that the Alcantaras would file on Friday a separate criminal case against the flight purser, the pilot, three crew members, and three vice presidents of the airline.

The Alcantaras' 14-year-old son has global developmental delay, a condition wherein there is a lag in the development of some of his faculties.

Maritess Alcantara and her son were on a Cebu Pacific flight back to Manila from Hong Kong when the airline purser asked them to deplane supposedly because of a Cebu Pacific rule that no two "mentally ill" passengers should be on the same flight.

Maritess refused to deplane and felt humiliated for the alleged rude treatment of the crew.

Panelo earlier said that Cebu Pacific's rule specifically said that "mentally ill" passengers did not include special children, which only indicated that the flight crew had misinterpreted the airline's regulations.

Cebu Pacific earlier apologized for the incident and said it did not, and would not discriminate against passengers with special needs.

On Thursday, however, Panelo pointed out that his research has shown that Cebu Pacific figured in several other incidents where it had offloaded passengers with special needs, such as deaf or wheelchair-bound persons.

The lawyer said he would introduce these incidents as evidence in court.

"They think they can get away with murder," Panelo said.