CAGAYAN de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today urged two committees in the House of Representatives to tackle his resolution seeking the suspension of the legislative franchise of Cebu Pacific.
He made the appeal because he said he continues to receive numerous complaints about the Gokongwei-owned airline’s “lousy and terrible service.”
“I filed Resolution No. 1101 last June 26 in view of such complaints. It has been more than two months and no public hearing has been held. So I am appealing to the committee on legislative franchises and the committee on transportation to already set the resolution for hearing,” he said.
“This is a matter of urgent public concern because of tens of thousands of passengers affected. We should address it ASAP or people might suspect that something is amiss, something is not right,” Rodriguez said.
He said he continues to receive “a barrage of calls and text messages reporting on the continued very bad passenger services of Cebu Pacific.”
He added that the complaints are coming from House members, governors, other public officials, businessmen, and other private citizens, and from friends and Cagayan de Oro City constituents.
“Except for some cosmetic changes, Cebu Pacific’s service has not really improved. Its franchise to operate should be suspended until they shape up to the satisfaction of the riding public,” the Mindanao lawmaker stressed.
However, he commended the airline’s announcement that it has made some improvements in its travel fund/travel wallet policies.
“I welcome the changes to travel fund and voucher policies such as no expiration of travel funds and longer travel voucher validity. But I’d like Cebu Pacific to report to the public on the frequency of its flight cancellations, if there are lesser passengers being bumped off due to overbooking, if there are fewer delays in flight departures,” he said.
He said the Gokongwei carrier should also inform the public if there are additional phone lines and customer service personnel for passenger complaints, if there are still instances of missing luggage or of luggage arriving days after passengers arrive at their destinations.”
“They should also explain and justify their idiotic policies on accompanying and checked-in luggage. If a passenger buys a 20-kilo luggage, the luggage should only be one. This has forced passengers at the airport to tie 2 pieces of luggage into one,” Rodriguez said.
