Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

City of Manila
Branch 8
Delia Santos, Lucio Ferrer, and

CIVIL CASE No. 1234567

Rosemarie Claveria,
Plaintiffs,

FOR: Breach of Contact of

Carriage, Damages for

- versus

Death, Moral Damages

and Attorneys Fees

Cebu Air Inc., Defendant

DECISION

Before this court is a Complaint for Breach of Contract of Carriage,

Damages for Death, Moral Damages, and Attorneys fees filed by the three
(3) plaintiffs, namely: Delia Santos, Lucio Ferrer, and Rosemarie Claveria
against Defendant Cebu Pacific Air Inc.
II
Prior trial proper but after pre-trial, Plaintiffs Lucio Ferrer and Rosemarie
Claveria entered into an Amicable Settlement with Cebu Pacific Air Inc.
(Cebu Pacific). Only Plaintiff Delia Santos (Santos) proceeded with trial
proper. As such, this Decision will only cover the issues between Santos
and Cebu Pacific.
III

The following facts are not disputed and were agreed upon by both parties
in their respective pre-trial briefs:
1. Plaintiff Delia Santos booked a one-way ticket with defendant Cebu
Pacific Air going to General Santos City. The flight 5J 878 was scheduled to
depart from Manila to General Santos City on December 25, 2014 at 8:00
AM.
2. Delay indeed occurred on Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 878 due to technical
problems.
3. Passengers who were not able to take their flights were given free hotel
accommodations.
4. On December 26, 2014 at 7:00 AM, Cebu Pacific gave Santos one round
trip ticket each to any domestic destination to be used within 90 days as
compensation for the delays.

5. On December 26, 2014, at 4:00 PM, the Santos was finally able to board
her flight. She arrived at General Santos City at 6:00 PM.

IV
The following facts here were presented by Santos and contended by Cebu
Pacific respectively:
1. On the day of her scheduled flight, Santos arrived at NAIA Terminal 3 at
3:00 AM because she did not want to be late. At around 5:00 AM, her
husband, Delfin Santos, called saying that their child was rushed to the
hospitals emergency room due to an accident resulting to head trauma.

2. During her stay at the hotel provided by Cebu Pacific, Plaintiff Santos
received a phone call from her husband telling her that their child died on
the operating table on Christmas day.

Following such events, Delia Santos instituted this civil case against Cebu
Pacific for Breach of Contract of Carriage, Damages for Death, Moral
Damages, and Attorneys Fees.
For their defense, Cebu Pacific in its Answer argued that it was not
responsible for: xxx the mental anguish of Delia Santos for the death of
her child. Defendant has complied with the bare minimum standards
required of common carriersthat is safely transport passengers from their
origin to destination.

VI

Trial proper ensued on March 11, 2015 wherein the plaintiffs presented two
witnesses. First to be presented was the Complaining Witness: Plaintiff
Delia Santos. Second to be presented was Octavio F. Lina, NAIA Terminal
3 Manager.

Delia Santos testimony was offered to prove breach of contract of carriage

on the part of defendant Cebu Pacific Air caused by the delay of the
December 25, 2014 flight 5J 878, and further to prove the damages caused
to complainant as the proximate cause of such breach.

On her direct testimony, Santos testified to the following:

1. She booked a Cebu Pacific ticket, and that ticket indicated her flight was
to be on December 25, 2014; departing from Manila at 8:00 AM and
arriving at General Santo City on 10:00 AM.
2. She was at NAIA Terminal 3 as early as 3:00 AM of December 25, 2014.
3. While waiting for her flight, she received a call from Delfin Santos, her
husband. The call indicated that the husband along with the children out to
fetch her figured in a vehicular collision, which was evidenced by a Police
Incident Report. One of the children suffered a head trauma.
4. Her supposed 8:00 AM flight did not prosper. It reached to a point where
she had to spend the night of December 25, 2014, at a hotel provided by
Cebu Pacific for passengers whose flight were delayed.
5. During her stay at the hotel, her husband called again. This time, the call
relayed to her that her son died.
6. After getting a new ticket and also a complimentary ticket, she was able
to board her new flight; again it was delayed. Her new flight, 5J 998, was
supposed to leave on December 26, 2014, with 8:00 AM time of departure
and 10:00 AM time of arrival. The flight did materialize, but at 4:00 PM of
December 26, 2014 and she arrived at 6:00 PM of the same day.
7. In all the events after her husbands first phone call, she was already in a
state of panic and anxiety. This was compounded by Cebu Pacifics delay
in their flight. She testified that the delays and her late arrival prevented her
from seeing her child for the last time. And such caused her great
emotional and mental anguish.

On cross-examination she reiterated and revealed the following:

1. Despite the delay, there were Cebu Pacific personnel present to inform
her of the delay.
2. When she had to go to the hotel provided by Cebu Pacific, there was a
vehicle provided by Cebu Pacific to ferry them from the airport to the hotel.
3. She was given a room to the hotel and testified that the room
assignments at least considered her status as a woman; wherein she was
boarded along with another woman. And there were only the two (2) of

them in a room. Again, she testified that Cebu Pacific personnel arranged
these and identified two (2) documents. The first was a hotel
accommodation sign-up sheet and the second was a Room Assignment
sign-up sheet.
4. Upon questioning, she revealed that it was a tricycle collision that killed
her son, and not Cebu Pacific.
5. Further to that, she revealed that when the call time for the new flight
was made, Cebu Pacific personnel were there to fetch them from the hotel.
And again, she testified that Cebu Pacific provided a vehicle to ferry them
from the hotel to the airport.
6. She received a complimentary ticket from Cebu Pacific that would have
allowed her a free flight wherever in the Philippines for a 90-day period.
She admitted that she did not use this ticket but could have used the same
upon questioning.
7. Finally, when asked about her condition upon arrival on General Santos
city, she testified that she arrived in safe condition.

Following her was Octavio F. Lina, the NAIA Terminal 3 Manager. His
testimony was offered to prove that during the days of December 24 to 26,
2014, Cebu Pacific was stymied with several problems that other airlines
did not suffer. Specifically, more than two thirds of Cebu Pacifics flights
were cancelled and or delayed, and that during that period, especially on
December 25, Cebu Pacific Airs check-in counters for domestic flights
were severely undermanned, which resulted in many passengers missing
their flights or not being able to leave Manila on time, as in the case of
Complaining Witness, Delia Santos.

On direct examination, Mr. Octavio F. Lina testified to the following:

1. Beginning December 14, he noticed that slowly, the number of domestic
passengers using NAIA-3 has steadily increased, until around December
23 where the sudden surge passengers of departing domestic flights
happened and the terminal looked so crowded, especially in the check-in
counters, and in the pre-departure area.

2. During the mentioned dates, the lines in the check-in counters were very
long. There were so many people inside the pre-departure area for
domestic flights that some of the passengers waiting for boarding were
sitting in the floor.
3. Cebu Pacific had on December 24, 145 scheduled flights and 6 added
flights; on December 25, it had 149 scheduled flights and 5 added flights;
and on December 26, it had 145 scheduled flights and 5 added flights.
4. On December 24, 13 flights were cancelled, while 102 flights were
delayed (roughly 68 percent of its flights); on December 25, 3 were
cancelled, while 79 were delayed (roughly 53 percent); and on December
26, 4 flights were cancelled, while 107 were delayed (roughly 71 percent of
its flights that day).
5. He identified a document showing the breakdown of Cebu Pacifics
flights from December 24 to 26, 2014 departing from Manila, and how
many were scheduled, added, cancelled, flown or delayed which was the
basis in the previous answer.
6. On December 25, 2014, Cebu Pacific had four (4) scheduled flights.
7. Out of these four (4) flights only one departed; that was Cebu Pacific
Flight 5J 997, at 10:30 PM.
8. When asked why only one managed to depart he answered that Cebu
Pacific Air had so many delayed domestic flights from December 24 alone,
which spilled over to December 25. The reason was the airplanes that
Cebu Pacific could have used to fly passengers to General Santos were
also being used in other domestic destinations, which also departed from
Manila hours beyond their scheduled departing time.
9. He also noted that the lines in the check-in counters of Cebu Pacific Air
too were very long. Many of the passengers were screaming at the Airlines
ground staff that was manning the said check-in counters.
10. The long lines were attributed to the observation that out of the thirty
(30) check-in counters used by Cebu Pacific, only three (3) were open.
11. Out of these three (3) check-in counters, one was used for General
Santos City-bound passengers; but not exclusively.

12. As to the reason why the one counter was not exclusively used, he
noted that were no Cebu Pacific Air ground personnel were manning the
other check-in counters.
13. Finally, he testified that other airlines, particularly AirAsia Zest and
Philippine Airlines, barely had any lines. In the five (5) foreign carriers using
the terminal, while the lines were quite long, because all of their check-in
counters were open, the lines would quickly become short.

On cross-examination, he testified to the following:

1.

Presentation of the Plaintiffs witnesses ended after Mr. Linas cross

examination and the Court was in recess. Calendar was set on March 18,
2015 for the Defenses presentation of witnesses. On that date, the
defense presented two (2) witnesses. First was Marco Mendoza, Cebu
Pacifics Flight Airworthiness Manager. The second was Bea Rose
Cuyengkeng; Cebu Pacific General Ground Supervisor.

On direct examination, Marco Mendoza related the following:

1. When asked why there was delay, he answered that out of four (4)
planes that Cebu Pacific had then, two (2) had to undergo repairs.
2. Those two (2) planes were 5J 878 and 5J 997.
3. Cebu Pacific Air, Flight 5J 878 had technical difficulties with its
communications system; specifically delay and static.
4. As for 5J 997, one of the wings needed a minor spoiler replacement.
5. Upon being asked of the significance of these problems, he said that
radio is vital for the pilots while problems in the spoilers could lead to
landing problems.
6. After knowing such problems, he quickly moved to have the repairs done
as fast possible. Some of his actions included forcing the engineering crew

to overtime and even preventing them from going home. He further testified
that he had to pull every connection he had.
7. When asked why it still took a long time for the repairs, he answered that
he had to make sure that the planes were airworthy; or else accidents
could happen.

On cross examination, he revealed that:

1. Plane maintenance and repair are part of the everyday operations of
Cebu Pacific or any airline for that matter.
2. Maintenance and repair could have gone faster if there was a full
complement of engineering crew.
3. On being asked why the engineering crew was not fully present, he
answered that Cebu Pacific subcontracts them. Thus, despite being a
manager he had little control.

Next witness for the Defense was Bea Rose Cuyengkeng. Her testimony
was offered to prove that on December 24 to 26, 2014, plaintiff Delia
Santos, together with other passengers of Cebu Pacifics flights that were
cancelled and/or delayed were provided with food, proper accommodation,
transportation and compensation, (in a form of voucher ticket) during that
period.

On her direct testimony she revealed the following:

1. She noticed that only few of Cebu Pacific ground personnel went to work
during the days of December 24 to 26, 2014. Only two (2) check-in
counters were open. There were long lines of passengers per counter.
2. She immediately called the main office, informing them of the present
situation. She also called for an emergency meeting.
3. In that emergency meeting they discussed their usual protocol in
handling passengers with delayed or cancelled flightsSome were tasked to
contact Cebu Pacifics partners in accommodation. Others prepared for the

transportation of the passengers from the airport to the hotel and vice
versa. While the remaining prepared free travel vouchers, to compensate
those severely delayed passengers. In all this, she managed the entire
protocol.
4. Effected protocols included fully air conditioned buses to transport these
stranded passengers, from the airport to their respective designated hotels,
free of charge; room accommodations in Hotel 101, Remulla's Garden,
Lotus Garden, Nichols Hotel, Roger's Place, Oyster Palace, and Orange
Garden; and finally, the Free Travel Voucher given by Cebu Pacific to those
passengers who were severely delayed or stranded. It is a consumable
round trip ticket anywhere in the Philippines within 90 days from the receipt
of the Voucher.

On her cross examination, she revealed the following:

1.

VII