An Accident at the Bacolod-Silay Airport and the Inhumane Responses

Today, my husband showed me a CCTV video taken near the scanner at the Bacolod-Silay Airport. It was posted by Miss Charlotte Lopez Hofilena, who said in her Facebook post that it was her mother who fell face down in that video. The event happened in April of 2014 but up until now, there was no assistance extended to their family. Her mother was not only hurt physically (she sustained a fracture) and they suffered emotional trauma (which I can only imagine). She and her husband were supposed to be passengers of a Cebu Pacific Flight.

Here are my two cents’ worth to the incident:

1. This was clearly an accident. We could go through the blame game but it was just that. It was not intentional. However, it was something that could be avoided.

2. CAAP could learn from this. They should now know how to regulate that area for the smooth flow of traffic and to avoid incidents like this. It was a freak accident but it could happen again. Passengers should be directed to seats where they can sit down and wear their shoes so that the area will not be congested. And CAAP management, a little financial assistance from you to help defray the medical expenses of this family will go a long way. After all, this happened in your area of responsibility. You could also improve the services of your medical response team.

3. To Cebu Pacific. While this may not be your responsibility, it would also be nice if you could extend assistance to this family. While it may just be your PR stint, it will still help this family. What is P100,000 to you? It will only fall under your tax shelter. Go ahead and show some heart. This family needs it.

4. To the guy whose bags made the lady stumble. Sir, I cannot put in writing the adjectives running in my head after seeing your reaction to the incident. While putting your bags aside could have prevented that accident, I will not blame it on you. But the fact that you saw that elderly lady fall face down and still you continued to put on your shoes, pull your bags, and walk away reminded me of the religious leaders in the Bible’s famous Samaritan story. While I may not know your story, your heartless apathy in the video made me shudder. How could a human being dressed in a dignified way act in such a manner of brutes? You could have helped her get up. You could have apologized. While it will not cure her pain, it will show your character. I would understand if you could not go with her in the ambulance. But you could have apologized and to take a step further, you could have taken their names, address, and phone number. You could have sent flowers and a card of sympathy. If you live in Bacolod, you could have visited them in the hospital. There could be so much you could have done than just walk away. Even if it weren’t your bags involved, you could have done more to assist because you were the nearest person on the scene. I don’t think there is a law that will jail you for what you’ve done. But it speaks a lot about your as a person.

What if it happened to your mother, wife, or sister? Or you don’t care about them either?

When I see some acts that show how inconsiderate others are of personal spaces, I often wonder about their upbringing, or at least, what they are going through at the moment that they acted that way. But this act was just pure heartlessness. I wonder how her mother thinks about this when she sees this video of her son?

This event happened a long time ago. This guy has probably celebrated Christmas, New Year, a birthday, and had lots of good times. But wherever you are, I hope you remember this incident and remember this lady. It is still not too late to get in touch.

I am praying for the the healing of the victim and the restoration in their family. God bless you in ways big and small. May God’s favor be upon you.