A third mother complains that Cebu Pacific airline discriminated against her child with Down syndrome

From ABS-CBN News:

MANILA, Philippines – Another Cebu Pacific Air passenger with a special child complained of being discriminated against by the Gokongwei-led airline.

Estella Santos, mother of 4-year old Harvey who has Down Syndrome, told ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda on Friday that they were, too, were forced by Cebu Pacific cabin crew to deplane from a flight about to takeoff from Hong Kong to Manila.
Harvey, a special child, was mistaken as mentally ill.

Santos was the second parent with a special child on a December 23 Cebu Pacific flight who claimed to have been ill-treated by the flight staff.

On Thursday, Marites Alcantara told ABS-CBN that her family has plans to file charges against the airline and its staff for discrimination. Alcantara’s 14-year old son, John Arvin, has Global Development Delay, a condition that impedes the normal development of the child's faculties.

Discrimination against special children is against the Republic Act 7277, the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. The law considers refusal of a transport operator to “convey a passenger…by reason of his disability” as discrimination.

Cebu Pacific has admitted that its staff “misinterpreted government regulations” against discrimantion and that it “sincerely regrets the incident.”

Santos recounted their trauma. On-board the Cebu Pacific flight about to depart for Manila, the flight crew approached her and her son, forcing them to disembark.

Santos said the crew argued that the company has a policy against having two passengers with a condition to be on the same flight. That policy, however, does not apply to special children but to passengers who are mentally ill.

“Hindi po ako pumayag. (I refused to disembark.) I said, if you’ll push through with this, I will sue you. This is our right. We were already inside the plane. Then they will ask us to get off? Of course not!”

She added that the flight crew, alternating between her and Alcantara, wanted to get one of them to disembark, citing aviation safety.

“It’s a natural reaction for a mother of a special child who is being forced to disembark without an explanation where we will go. What if, in the next flight, another special child is also a passenger? How can we get a flight home?”

For standing their ground, Santos and Alcantara said the flight was delayed for about an hour. The other passengers of the flight were visibly irritated and sneered at them, some reportedly calling their kids “crazy.”

“It really hurt me how the other passengers looked at me and my special child with disdain. We gave so much love and attention to our child. Yet, he was treated that way,” she narrated. “How many parents want their child to have a disability?”

“We don’t owe that airline anything since we are paying passengers. Our fare was not from charity. We paid for our fare,” she stressed.

Angel Atutubo, assistant manager of the terminal airport in Manila, told ABS-CBN that special children only needs special attention from companions. “Special children are not qualified as mentally ill,” he stressed.

Cebu Pacific spokesperson Candice Iyog said during a press conference on Friday that the airline does not discriminate against special children. She said the flight crew misunderstood the company’s policy on aviation safety.

“We don’t have a policy disallowing special children [on our flights],” she clarified.

"There was a misinterpretation of an aviation safety rule, which says there is a limit on the number of mental patients on a flight. This is in place so that in case of an emergency, the flight crew can evacuate passengers quickly."

In a statement on Thursday, Cebu Pacific said that it has “apologized to the passenger and sincerely regrets the incident.”

It added that the airline “has taken all the necessary measures to make sure similar incidents do not happen again and that all passengers with special needs are properly attended to.

Iyog said the crew members and pilot involved in the incident have been “reprimanded.” She stressed that the carrier will conduct a re-orientation of frontliners to ensure that the incident will not be repeated.

Iyog said the company has offered to give free tickets to the Santoses and Alcantaras.
The two mothers did not budge. “Thank you for the offer. But the shame and pain we went through have no price,” Santos said.