With its acronym PAL, national flag carrier Philippine Airlines should be a friend. But PAL was everything but friendly, as shown in a recent mess-up in the handling of a passenger’s flight which has come to our attention.
Ms. Maria Cristina Romulo is a confirmed business class passenger on PAL March 1 to attend the opening of the Romulo Cafe in London on March 2. Unfortunately, the PAL flight was canceled due to what the airline said was “operational problems.”
Ms. Romulo was to attend the London event not just for social reasons but because she is a shareholder of the well-known restaurant chain. She was rebooked on Cathay Pacific but because PAL did not coordinate with CX, she was not boarded by Cathay Pacific. This left her stranded in Hong Kong. Distraught and emotionally drained, she was left with no other option but to return to Manila.
Ms. Romulo was told by PAL that she could take the next flight the next day on CX or other airlines. Since her primary reason was attending the Romulo Café opening in London (she also planned to go on to Barcelona), she decided not to leave anymore.
Her father, former secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Romulo, wrote a letter to PAL president Jaime J. Bautista asking for an explanation for the booking foul-up. But Bautista did not even have the courtesy to reply to Mr. Romulo’s letter. Instead he merely referred Mr. Romulo’s letter to PAL Head of Customer Management Office, Clara C. de Castro.
Although Ms. De Castro expressed PAL’s apology “for all the troubles that your daughter had to go through,” the explanation given by PAL was perfunctory. It smacked of finger-pointing at Cathay Pacific as the culprit.
Ms. De Castro also sought a meeting with Mr. Romulo to thresh things out and “make sure that necessary corrective measures are in place to address lapses in the system.”
For the shoddy treatment that they got from PAL, the entire Romulo family is talking to lawyers to study filing a suit against the national flag carrier.
This is more than a computer glitch. It’s human error by PAL’s ground staff. PAL is proud to claim it is competitive with other airlines when it purchased new planes from Airbus and Boeing. PAL also added two new long-haul routes by flying to London and New York. But new passenger jetliners and additional destinations would be for naught if the ground support system is not efficient.
Impeachment mess
President Rodrigo Duterte has disowned any involvement in the impeachment case against Vice President Leni Robredo. He claims he is beyond politics and is not going to waste his time on the matter, adding that he has more important things to do in affairs of the state.
So, if Duterte is disowning any role to unseat Leni, is House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez being more popish than the Pope? He claims Leni is the beneficiary to succeed as president if Duterte is dislodged by impeachment. Alvarez is confident that he has the numbers in the House to push the case.
So why is Alvarez so gung-ho about impeaching Robredo? The reason must be because he also stands to advance in the succession order if Duterte and Robredo are impeached. The only man standing between him and his ambition is PDP -Laban partymate Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel.
What is going on in these murky and politically charged impeachment moves? It seems only Alvarez knows.
If Alvarez succeeds, he will move up in the succession order considering rumors and speculations about Duterte’s health.
If the President means what he said about spending the rest of his six-year term with more important affairs of State, then he should do so and lay to rest all these impeachment and succession speculation. The President should also rein in his henchmen Alvarez, Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.