Recently, a special child was denied to board
Cebu Pacific by its cabin crew because the child was said to be "mentally ill" and the airline apparently has rules that discriminates special kids (
link to news here).
Another mother said that she and her Down-syndrome stricken child was also asked to get off the plane, also because of the said policy (
link to news here).
This treatment is in violation to
RA 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.
Because of the Philippine's poor implementation of existing laws, RA 7277 has not been fully implemented and still most differently-abled people suffer from discrimination. This includes mentally-challenged individuals and children.
Apparently Cebu Pacific offered to give the humiliated passenger four round-trip tickets. A gesture, which, I would consider to be insulting. Such humiliation deserves lifetime free rides for the child and a guardian, if it was me. Still the damage has been done.
We could not blame Cebu Pacific or their cabin crew for acting in such a manner, believing that they are protecting the interest of most of the passengers onboard. Apparently, they have not been informed of RA 7277, which again would bring the blame back to the agencies tasked to implement the law.
But as they say, ignorance of the law excuses no one.
What do you think of Cebu Pacific's action with regards to this matter?
What do you think Cebu Pacific should do in order for it to redeem itself from this PR dilemma?
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Comments (2)
Wow. Well, definitely they should do a lot more than say "we didn't know" and offer a few free airline tickets. Very sad.
this is indeed a dilemma in my country... differently-abled people, including the mentally challenged, have to struggle to be recognized...this despite the laws protecting their rights...