Woman Kicked Off Cebu Pac Flight: The He-Said She-Said Online War After

Actress Kicked Out of Plane After 'Punching' Flight Attendant and Co-Passenger 2

 

Things didn’t turn out well for Melissa Mendez when the flight she was on had to return to Metro Manila to offload her. This happened after an alleged confrontation between her and model-athlete Andrew Wolff, who posted the incident on Instagram.

According to Andrew, who boarded a Cebu Pacific flight to Pagadian this morning:

 

A certain Filipina actress, past her prime may I add, decided to use our reserved seats on the plane. After being asked to move by flight attendants, the captain and even ground security she agreed to go to her seat (after 30mins of cursing).

 

Andrew went on to say that this Filipina actress claims to be a famous celebrity before. Andrew also said that she smelled like a “beer brewery.”

 

Anyway, half way to our destination to talk to our programmer in Mindanao, this “actress” decided to curse continually at my friend. She was given two warning cards by flight attendants, but didn’t stop. She punched my friend and the flight attendants and had to be restrained. The captain announced: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize, but we have to go back to Manila due to one unruly passenger.

 

Andrew took two videos, both of which were also uploaded and then deleted. The videos show the captain of the flight explaining to Melissa that she had to be offloaded because she hurt the flight attendants.

The incident was confirmed by the airline through a text message sent to Rappler. According to the message:

 

Manila-Pagadian returned to Manila, shortly after take-off today, March 20, 2015. The flight returned to Manila due to a reported unruly passenger. The unruly passenger was offloaded from the flight.

The flight departed Manila at 9:20AM and arrived in Pagadian at 10:37AM on the same day. CEB is coordinating with authorities regarding the incident.

 

Melissa released her statement on the matter, saying that while she did slap Andrew’s friend, identified as Rey Pamaran, and was offloaded, it was because he disrespected her. According to her:

 

First of all, I was not drunk. I don’t even drink alcohol,” said Mendez. “Second, I have been on a juice diet for several months now. It was possible that what they smelled on my breath was the juice that I drank before leaving the house that morning. It was a mixture of beetroot, papaya, pineapple and watermelon. I didn’t take in any alcoholic drink.

 

She also explained what happened that led to the incident:

 

The reason was really so simple. These men just chose to blow it out of proportion. It was true that I sat on the 1A seat, which wasn’t reserved for me. This was only because I had wanted to take pictures of the clouds. I asked if I could stay there until such a time when I am able to take good photos of the clouds,” she recalled. “When I asked Andrew’s friend, he said ‘Hindi pwede. Binayaran ko ‘yan.’ I said I will not take long. Makikisuyo lang. It was when he told me, ‘Pag ‘di ka pa umalis d’yan hahampasin na kita ng bag ko sa mukha mo.’

 

That was when Melissa was offended. She said that he was a grown man, while she was a 50 year old woman. She responded with “Ang kapal naman ng mukha mo. Wala naman akong ginagawang masama sa iyo.” They then exchanged more words until the pilot came to assess the situation. When she went to the seat assigned to her, Andrew’s friend kept talking. She reportedly went to Andrew to ask his friend to stop, only for Andrew to reply “I don’t know you!” (She also said that her daughter Denisse Oca was a friend of his).

Before landing, she said that she wanted to approach Rey. She said:

 

I had wanted to make peace with him, because I sensed that he’s a powerful man. I had wanted for things to be okay with him before we land. I sought the permission of a stewardess before approaching him. I was calm when I went up to him. He covered his nose with a magazine and then said, ‘lumayo ka nga sa akin. Bad breath ka! Magsipilyo ka nga. Nakakadiri ka!‘ It was then when I slapped him. What he told me was really humiliating.

 

Melissa was scheduled to go to Pagadian to host a show. Her producer said she will no longer fly there because the news had spread. According to her, it’s not safe to go there anymore because Rey is an influential figure in the city. She added:

 

“I was only going there to work. Just because he’s from an affluent family ganito ang mangyayari sa akin?”

 

She added that she will not apologize to Rey, and will consult with Gabriela on her next step.

Rey Pamaran, the friend in question, was also interviewed on the subject. According to him:

 

Hindi po tama ‘yung sinasabi niya. Sinabi namin na upuan namin ‘yan. Sabi niya, pwede bang kayo na lang umupo sa likod. Sinabi po namin sa kanya hindi po pwede binayaran po namin ‘yung seat kasi kailangan namin ng leg room (What she said wasn’t’ right. We told her that’s our seat. She asked us if it’s okay if we sit at the back. We told her it’s not possible because we paid for that seat because we need leg room).

 

In this part, the two seem to be in agreement:

 

Eh ayaw talaga niya umalis. Sabi niya magpipicture daw siya ng clouds pag lumipad. Eh anong gagawin namin, tatayo lang kami sa harap? (But she doesn’t want to leave. She told us she’s going to take photos of the clouds. So what are we going to do, stand in front?)

Ang dami niyang satsat..ang dami niyang sinasabi. Nagsisigaw na siya ‘******* hanggang ngayon di mo pa ako kilala.’ Sabi ko ‘pag ‘di ka umalis dyan masampal ko mukha mo’…sabi ko sa kanya ‘yun..nasabi ko talaga ‘yun ..wala akong ginawa… hindi ko hinampas mukha niya (She talked a lot. She screamed ******, don’t you recognize me. I said to her, if you don’t leave that seat I’d slap you in the face. I really told her that but I didn’t do it. I didn’t slap her in the face)

 

In a Facebook post, he said:

 

She immediately flared up and caused a big scene, shouting invectives at me and cursing me left and right. She was finally restrained and was made to sit to her assigned seat behind me, her female companion assuring everyone that she will be calm.

I told her to calm down, get some mouthwash then we can talk. It is here that she suddenly punched me in the face I admit I was this close to hitting her back but my good senses came into play.

As we landed Manila, she was the escorted out of the airplane and into a waiting bus with about 20 security personnel.

 

Actress Kicked Out of Plane After 'Punching' Flight Attendant and Co-Passenger

Melissa’s daughter Denisse releases her own statement

 

Melissa’s daughter, Denisse, also shared her thoughts on Instagram. According to her:

 

It’s so sad to know that some people really have no respect for women and elderly. If it were your mother, how would you feel if someone disrespects them? Naturally I feel the need to defend my mother. First of all, she wasn’t drunk, she hasn’t had a sip of alcohol in years. Secondly, how hard is it to give up a reserved seat? Are all men like this nowadays and can’t give up his seat to an older woman in exchange for hers (which is mind you, just right behind his seat)? I get that he paid for that “reserved seating”, my mom merely wanted to sit next to her friend and take a nice picture of the clouds upon take off. This all rooted from something so harmless, (I mean, clouds for crying out loud!) and yet it had spun out of control because some guy won’t give up his seat.

 

She also mentioned how Rey threatened to hit her mother with his bag:

 

Let’s please take into consideration how he said he’ll throw his bag at my mom’s face if she didn’t leave his seat. “Hahampasin ko bag ko sa mukha mo pag di ka umalis diyan” were his words. Would a real man ever say that? That led me to ask my mom, “Is he gay?” I’m not saying he is, I just merely asked. So really can you blame my mom for “punching” him? I don’t, I think he deserved it. As for Andrew, what’s the point of posting something like that other than giving people something to talk about? What good do you get from embarrassing my mother? I mean — why? Don’t you have a mom, a wife, a daughter? Let’s hope they don’t suffer the same social shaming you’ve put my mom through. You must know what you did was wrong if you blocked me from your page before I could even see the post but you did it anyway. Goes to show what kind of man you are, which is not much, really. As for everyone else, you people don’t even know what really happened and neither do I because I wasn’t there… And yet you are so quick to judge and laugh and act like you are better than us! I guess asking people for a little respect is too much to ask nowadays. People are mean, that’s a fact I have to live with. And no she isn’t facing prison time nor is she paying a fine with Cebu Pac, but the person she got into a fight with is someone influential and her work gig was canceled. Power tripping at its finest.

 

What do you think of this issue? Share your thoughts below!