Thursday, May 15, 2008 Espinoza: Winston Garcia’s message By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
COMPLAINTS from mistreated passengers of bad customer service in its domestic flights are piling up against Cebu Pacific Air. This can jeopardize Cebu Pacific’s low-fare promo that some people believe is deceptive.
Provincial Board Member Agnes Magpale, chair of the committee on tourism and international affairs, called on the Cebu Pacific management to improve its services as this could affect the tourism industry here. The airline carries the province’s name.
The problem is true in Cebu Pacific’s international promo flights. Last December, a relative complained that their 10 p.m. flight to Hong Kong was delayed for nearly three hours. The plane later departed without the crew explaining the reason for the delay.
Locally, the trick is like this. A passenger booked on promo rate and who checks in a minute late due to the long queue at the old domestic terminal in Manila is charged twice the original one-way rate if he/she takes the next flight.
It happened to Sun.Star’s Anol Mongaya. Cebu Pacific snubbed him even if he arrived before check-in time. Instead of paying the higher rate, he took a PAL flight back to Cebu.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific’s P1 promo fare to Hong Kong, as advertised, is misleading. A passenger often pays more than P1. The catch is that for the return trip no seats are available. One is therefore forced to pay more, with the cost for the return flight almost equivalent to a round trip fare.
Is the Department of Trade and Industry waiting for a formal complaint before acting on the matter? Perhaps, Cebu Pacific is losing in this low-fare promo and has to resort to this odd means to plug the bleeding. Or is Cebu Pacific in dire straits?
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The truth on the earlier rumor that Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) general manager Winston Garcia is running for Cebu City mayor is surfacing. Perhaps, it was deliberately done to feel the pulse of big city voters.
Although Garcia did not categorically say if he will run for the post in 2010, his statement that “he would free Cebu City voters from Tomas’ mal-administration” was more than prima facie admission.
I can sense that Winston meant what he said. It was a premeditated jab that sends a message to the Osmeñas that Cebu will soon be ruled by Winston’s family. Garcia has a father and brother who are congressmen and a sister who is Cebu’s first lady governor.
If Winston wins the race for mayor in 2010, he will not only make his family proud but will redeem what his cousin, former mayor Alvin Garcia, lost.
As I said earlier, there are no permanent friends or enemies in our political system. What is permanent is the vested interest of politicians. Winston was not only a former lawyer of Mayor Osmeña but, in one occasion, was also a business ally.
With the weakening of the Osmeñas hold on Cebu politics, Rep. Pabling Garcia’s clan is etching its name on the annals of Cebu politics. Who would have believed this would happen? Not even Cebu’s political analysts thought that Pabling’s clan would go this far in Cebu’s politics.
In this context, will the Osmeña clan allow the entry of Winston into Cebu City’s politics? If Winston runs for mayor, Vice Mayor Mike Rama’s dream of becoming a city mayor will be in jeopardy, as Mayor Tomas will be obliged to field his wife Margot for the post.
