I have been reading some of the comments from netizens censuring Claudine Barretto for berating a Cebu Pacific ground crew after having lost a baggage on a flight from Kalibo. I am not fond of Barretto (read my previous reviews of her "In Your Eyes") myself. She isn't my favorite personality in any form, manner or persuasion. But people seem to forget the source of all these altercation. Cebu Pacific Air lost another baggage - and this has become a common incidence!
This has interested me because a year ago, my tita lost a baggage worth about P20,000 from her flight from the south to Manila. My tita, who's turning 70, is the epitome of decorum. She has always chosen diplomacy over anger even during the most exasperating times. In her wisdom, she believes that every problem could be remedied by sobriety.
LOSING A BAGGAGE
When she couldn't find the P20,000 baggage she lost, she informed the Cebu Pacific crew and she was initially told that Cebu Pac "will investigate". What's more important is that she was assured - yes, assured - that if the item isn't found, the company will pay for the worth (value) of the lost subject! I learned a couple of months ago (almost a year after the incident) that Cebu Pac called my tita to tell her that Cebu Pacific will indeed pay for for the "weight" of the lost item! If that's not the most incredulous offer, I don't know what is! the sadder thing is, my tita told them this was "unacceptable"! Nothing more! She's 70 - should she carry placards in front of Cebu Pac office to protest? What would you have told them otherwise? Since then, my tita has not heard from Cebu Pacific - and my tita decided it's a waste of time to even talk to these nincompoops! If you were my tita, would just let it go?
So if Cebu Pacific lost a diamond, they would only pay for its "weight" which is almost nil?
Cebu Pacific Air has been losing people's things and they shamelessly assert that they have limited responsibility for transporting their customer's baggage? What kind of dweebs are running this sad excuse of a company? Have you heard of their awards? Have you heard of the child with disability they refused to admit on board a flight back to the Philippines? When all of their flights keep getting delayed (yeah yeah yeah, we've all heard of the convenient "go-to" reason: tarmac traffic in Manila) and they keep losing their customer's stuff - yet they win AWARDS? What is this world coming to? It's like a world where Miss Universe winners are transexuals with chopped down penis, inflated mammoplasties, nose jobs, fake hairs, pumped up buttocks - all in the name of equality of sexual orientation! :)
REALM OF LUNACY
Cebu Pacific released their reason and labelled it as a company policy through a term called "baggage offloading". You mean they conveniently accepted a passenger's payment for their baggage check-in service (because these baggages won't get checked in if you don't buy a space for them or pay for them) only to leave them at the point of origin? That is a paid service NOT rendered! Whatever their reason is, since they were paid for and these items were entrusted to them, it is their responsibility to get them to their point of destination during an appointed time! If they hire a flying calesa to get them there is not the flyer's concern! Where did they place my tita's lost baggage? Did they fly it to Mount Kiagot? In "Bandila" they interviewed a supposed travel specialist who advised "huwag kayong magalit... it happens to everyone"! Where did they get this idiotic travel specialist who makes it like it was normal to lose passenger baggages? What planet does she come from? My goodness, are we really in a realm of lunacy? Super Moon, maybe?
It is never normal to lose your passenger's baggage! NEVER!
Better yet, isn't Cebu Pacific liable to civil damages for their continued ignorance of responsibility to their customers and people who patronize their business?
What is the D.T. I. doing against this? Or is it similar to the case against popcorns and 3D movie tickets running on deaf ears (buy a 3D ticket and they sell you a popcorn even if you don't eat it) - simply because the new D.T.I. boss was once a business colleague of the Sy's in SM!
Such shameless people!
Now going back to Claudine, if you were in her shoes - and you lost your stuff, say your phone charger, those cosmetics bought by your sister from L.A., an LV bag, the peripherals of your iPod, that exquisite Mishima book "Forbidden Colors" which you're almost done reading, a dozen blouses, dresses and pants, your favorite sneakers, a pair of too-die-for stiletto shoes - would you just smile affably like those spitting dingbats from Beijing?
Ohmygoodness, I would raise hell! I would be "masamang ugali" as well! I entrusted my belongings to an airline and they manage to lose these very personal items? Claudine Barretto deserves answers regarding the whereabouts of her stuff - and if she doesn't get any, she has the right to raise hell! She deserves to shout "Bobo", "Gago", "Tarantado", "Tanga" like , errr... the Tulfo brothers? Don't tell me you haven't heard the Tulfos graciously deliver these sophisticated rebuttal pieces like the true journalists that they are! Or do you live in a cave? Yet Ramon Tulfo doesn't seem so gracious when he hears a "mura" from Raymart. He should learn to take what he conveniently dishes out to others on a daily basis. Take it like a man, is what I say! Unless he is half of that! :)
Why was Tulfo all puffy? In fact, he might as well personify that "naupos na kandila" like my yaya said - cause he looked exactly like one after his fisticuffs! Isn't Tulfo a blackbelter in judo, aikido or some form of lethal martial arts? Was he holding back? LOL. I would have thought he could take on an army, the way he blasts people on air! He is so manly, I could personally smell testosterone dripping out of my boobtube every time his program is on! The action hero in Raymart Santiago finally confirms that he doesn't merely posture; he is in fact a real man of action. I am thus keeping an eye a la "Tutok Tulfo" for a future action project starring Raymart Santiago. This will be well deserved!
