Cagayan de Oro — 2nd District Congressman Rufus Rodriquez leads the clamor of over 3,000 dissatisfied passengers in urging Congress to suspend the franchise of Cebu Pacific for ‘lousy, terrible’ public service.
Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Congressman Rufus Rodriquez
Rodriguez said Cebu Pacific’s suspension of its legislative franchise serves as punishment for the blatant lies and misleading information of overbooking, a practice that runs counter with the airline’s tagline ‘Every Juan Can Fly’.
“A congressional franchise is a privilege that should not be used and enjoyed at the expense of the public. Congress should temporarily withdraw such privilege from Cebu Pacific until such time that it can provide satisfactory service to the riding public,” he said.
Rodriguez said he has been receiving many complaints from aggrieved passengers, including those from Cagayan de Oro City and other parts of Mindanao.
He chided the Gokongwei-owned airline for claiming the deterioration of its service by 50 percent was due to spare parts and maintenance issues.
“Even if that is true, that’s their own lookout. The public should not be made to suffer for their inefficiency. But to me, that is just palusot. The issue is not about the availability of spare parts or maintenance but Cebu Pacific selling plane tickets when they don’t have the necessary aircraft to carry passengers for whatever reason. They should stop selling tickets, period!” he said.
He said Cebu Pacific “is always overbooking, resulting in the offloading of many booked passengers.”
“The airline says, ‘Every Juan can fly.’ I say with their kind of deteriorated service, every Juan cannot fly,” he said.
The Mindanao lawmaker also took to task regulators for failing to address passengers’ complaints and sanction erring airlines.
“Natutulog sila sa pansitan,” he said.
At the same time, Rodriguez urged President Marcos to allow foreign airlines to operate locally, saying this is allowed under the recently-amended Public Service Act.
“The government should now open the country and invite foreign airlines to serve Filipinos, who should have options other than being forced to take Cebu Pacific with its terrible service,” he said.
He said other domestic carriers, “especially our flag carrier Philippine Airlines, should also step up to the plate and offer better service, including matching Cebu Pacific fares.”
“I think that if the fare rates are comparable, Filipinos would prefer to take Philippine Airlines. PAL, with its newly installed young leadership, should try to regain its top spot as most preferred domestic and international carrier,” Rodriquez added.
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