Florenda Jovia's heart was crushed on Monday, April 5 after she was stripped of her chance to see her sick mother in Bacolod, Negros Occidental.
She was already on board a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight bound for the province at around 2 p.m. at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 in Pasay City when the pilot suddenly announced that the flight was canceled due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Western Visayas.
At that point, Jovia had waited for over two hours on the plane while anxiously thinking about her mom, who has been ailing. She said the very purpose of her trip was to get to see her "before anything bad could happen".
"Nakumpleto na namin ang requirements. Bayad kami sa swab test, P4,000. Ang iba sa amin P2,900. Wala din pala, di kami matutuloy umuwi (We've completed the requirements. We've paid the swab test, P4,000. Others paid P2,900. But it's all for nothing, we won't be going home after all)," Jovia said, her voice cracking as she cried.
The canceled flight, PR2131, was supposed to carry at least 60 passengers to Bacolod.
"Pagkatapos pumila kaming lahat sa ticketing area. Walang tao. Walang nag-assist sa amin na taga PAL. Walang nag-assist kung ano gagawin namin. Hindi kami nakapag-lunch (We all queued at the ticketing area afterward. They was nobody there. No one from PAL assisted us. Nobody told us what we should do next. We weren't able to have lunch)," Jovia said.
"May gustong mag-refund at rebook pero sarado walang PAL personnel. Ang kausap namin porter at guard lang (Some passengers wanted to a refund while others wanted to rebook, but it was closed and no PAL personnel was around. Only a porter and a guard spoke to us)."
The Manila Bulletin learned that the Civil Aeronautic Board (CAB) only received a memo about the travel restriction at past noon Monday.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) as provided under Resolution No.108 series 2021 had approved the request of local government units in Region VI (Western Visayas) to temporarily suspended inbound passenger travel from the National Capital Region (NCR); the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite; and the cities of Cebu and Davao to the said region until April 10, 2021.
"They should have communicated with all their passengers ahead of time. What a shame," added Jovia.
PAL Spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said flights to Bacolod, Iloilo, Roxas, Caticlan, and Kalibo were all cancelled due to IATF Resolution No.108.