Our Dog Died on Cebu Pacific...

I’m not sure if writing about this now is any good at all. However, after watching the Today Show this morning and learning about this new Pet Airlines (Pet Airways) that exclusively and SAFELY carry pets as passengers and NOT as cargo which entails a lot of risks, I can’t help but remember and be shuddered about our dog's tragic fate on board Cebu Pacific Airlines last March 25, 2006. Blogging about this now and dragging a stalwart company into bad light might even get me into some trouble here. After all, it’s already been 3 years since the incident happened. It was a delicate legal case that had a weak fight merely because we were toppled over by “technicalities”.

Hollis was my mom’s baby; an adorable male pug who at that time was barely 2 years old. He was my mother’s only source of joy. Being a hard-at-work nurse at one of New York City’s biggest hospitals and living alone at that time, Hollis proved to be more than just my mom’s companion… he was the love of her life in the lonely big city. I got to meet Hollis when I visited my mom in 2005. At first, I had some resentment over the couch-hogging canine. He was practically like a spoiled child! We were practically fighting over my mom’s attention and even over bed space. And he always won. Can you believe it? I admit. It was really petty and ridiculous of me to be jealous about a pet. After a few more days of being alone with him at home while my mom’s at work, I finally got to know him more and more and soon fell in love with the fella.

And that is why when my mom decided to come home for a vacation in the Philippines, I was excited that she was going to bring Hollis along. Of course at first my mom was worried. It was going to be a long flight. So she made Hollis undergo the necessary health and travel competency check-ups. She checked with Korean Air about their pet handling services. She made sure that Hollis was fit to travel and that the airline she was flying on was competent to handle pets on board.

Finally on March 23, Mama Medy and a very energetic Hollis arrived in NAIA. Hollis immediately recognized me at the arrival bay and jumped on me as soon as I got to them. It was a happy reunion. Mama’s two spoiled brats are together again. In a couple of days, they will be flying again, this time to Davao City to spend a Holy Week vacation with our entire family. Hollis and Mama stayed at my condominium for the meantime. I would not be able to join them on their Davao trip so they decided to hang out with me first. This was also meant to give Hollis some rest in between flights. Even up to that point, Hollis showed no signs of any illnesses or symptoms that would lead us to conclude that he was sick prior to boarding the local flight to Davao.

March 25 came and as expected, the pre-Holy Week madness has taken its toll on the airports. At that time, Cebu Pacific still held its terminal at the old Manila Domestic Airport. It was cramped. It was chaotic. It was just crazy. The queue was just too impossibly long. Anyone who has ever experienced being at the old Manila Domestic Airport during peak seasons know what I’m talking about. Even though Mama, Hollis together with my sister Cindy and Kean arrived at the airport 2 hours before their flight, they still almost missed the check-in time. The counter was already just minutes away from closing down when they reached it. Now this is where things started to get in disarray. The following details happened as told to me by my sister.

Because my family was already running late, the baggage check-in was done hastily and that included Hollis’s cage. My mom asked though if she could just bring the dog inside the cabin since it’s just an hour and a half flight but of course the check-in crew said it was not allowed and that all live animals were supposed to be carried as cargo. Concerned about Hollis, my mom was naturally uncomfortable with the situation. And as usual, like most unhelpful employees out there who don’t know what good customer service is all about, they were obviously annoyed by my mom’s mounting queries and smugly answered with the standard reply, “It’s SOP!”

Time was running out. It was only minutes away before the final call for boarding. My family was pressured. The check-in crew was impatient. The airport terminal was just one noisy jungle. My mom practically had no choice. She wasn’t used to this pandemonium. She has not traveled on local Philippine flights in a very long time. My sister had a little kid in tow, and she wasn’t a very experienced flyer too. If I had been there, I would have controlled the situation much better but regrettably I wasn’t around.

When Hollis peeked out of his cage and Mama Medy lovingly said goodbye, nobody thought that it would actually be their last moment together. Flight 5J961 from Manila arrived in Davao International Airport at 6:20 in the morning. Mama waited for Hollis’s cage to roll out on the conveyer belt. Most of the passengers’ baggage had already been picked up but still no sign of Hollis. Then a commotion was happening at the cargo disembarkation area. Mother’s instinct kicked in. Mama ran towards the place and for a few moments there, my sister said Mama practically turned white. Inside the cage was Hollis’s dead body.

Upon receiving the news via cell phone, my Aunt Sally Jonson who is a Veterinarian, rushed to the airport. By the time she reached the scene, more conflicting matters have already transpired. There was no authorized Veterinarian on site to conduct and record an initial external examination on the body. When my Aunt finally reached my mother who was still in severe shock, she was already holding two pieces of documents. One is a Certification from the Veterinary Quarantine Services declaring that her dog was found dead on the particular Cebu Pacific Flight, and another document – the dog’s Cebu Pacific transport paper with a stamp saying: Goods received in good condition.

My Aunt was aghast to learn that my mom was “forced” to affix her signature even if she “refused” because they said that they could not release the said cargo if she didn’t sign the papers. As usual, they used the all-time favorite spiel “It’s SOP!” I know that my mother should not have signed it but please don’t blame her. She was in shock. She didn’t know anyone in the airport. And clearly, Cebu Pacific capitalized on her frail state of mind. My mother was tired, confused, maybe even in denial, and that alone is proof that she wasn’t mentally healthy to carry out such standard operational procedures.

Hollis was brought to my Aunt Sally’s friend’s clinic at around 4pm. His body was opened for a necropsy examination at Dr. Baby Vilela’s clinic, conducted by Dr. Velila herself together with Dr. Ferrazzini, and witnessed by Dr. Jonson, my Aunt. Here were the necropsy findings:

click to see larger image

So basically, the report concluded that Hollis died of hyperthermia or heatstroke. It was officially summer already during that time of year here in the Philippines. Blame it to Global Warming, what used to be just hot has now become smoldering hotter. Of course, to be fair, the veterinarians who did the necropsy had to state some predisposing factors such as Hollis being a brachiocephalic breed. This is a term used to describe the characteristic short muzzle of certain breeds of dogs such as pugs, shih tzus, and bulldogs. The short muzzle causes the dog to be hypersensitive to heat and humidity, requiring special attention. Difficulty breathing, wheezing, and snorting are common among them. Another predisposing factor was that Hollis was clinically obese. I told you he was a spoiled-rotten pooch, right?

However, given the circumstances that it was indeed fatally hot in the Philippines when New Yorker Hollis came to town and that he was unfortunately by textbook standards physically predisposed to have hyperthermia, these are all non-conclusive to the cause of his death. There were certainly a lot of other factors at play in this ill-fated incident.

As far as we, his family and his NYC veterinarian is concerned, Hollis was in good health condition when he arrived in Manila. His Korean Air transport permit, New York health records, vaccination certificates and the fact that he survived a much longer 12-hour flight from New York to Manila was proof enough. And that is why it was really hard for us to accept heartless stories concocted by Cebu Pacific, specifically by Mr. Millo, the cargo manager who signed Hollis’s transport papers, claiming that the aircraft’s cargo area had a below zero temperature making it impossible for the dog to die of heatstroke hence ending his contention that the dog must have already been sick or even perhaps dead before boarding the aircraft.

When I heard these stories from the Cebu Pacific cargo personnel, I really wanted to hunt this man down and give him a dose of his own medicine. Guess what? Two days after the incident, Mr. Millo was already nowhere to be found. Apparently, he resigned just a couple of days after Hollis’s death. What I could not understand was how careless and lenient Cebu Pacific is to their employees. Clearly, there was still an unsolved case in their hands involving this person and yet they let him go just like that?

When I went to Cebu Pacific to air my grievances and launched a deeper inquiry into the incident, they could not answer my questions anymore because they claimed that the manager directly involved in the case is not with them anymore, therefore casually stating that in the absence and in the clear disconnection of the subject in question to the company, that frees Cebu Pacific of any liability. Tweety Sumagui, the claims processor they assigned to deal with me said that they could only handle this fairly through documents at hand. And much to my dismay, they played the trick card on me. Remember that transport paper that my mom was FORCED to sign agreeing that she has received the cargo in good condition? Well, they shoved that piece of shitty paper on my face and said that technically there’s no case because my mom already signed the disclosure clause.

Just because of that, my plans on filing a legal case went up in smoke. At that time, I wasn’t that close yet to the people I know at the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. I didn’t know a thing. I researched on the laws governing animal cruelty and unfortunately it didn’t suffice.

The most that Cebu Pacific offered as payment for damages was four thousand pesos! Good grief. Of course I refused to accept it. No money could ever pay for the life of a lost loved-one. My mom was a complete wreck. When I started to pursue the case, my mom had already gotten back to NY. I didn’t want to further traumatize her. She has vowed not to be on any of their flights anymore. I was so overwhelmed too. On one hand, I wanted to purse the case and fight for Hollis. But on the other hand, one look at our animal welfare laws already gave me a sinking feeling. Wake up Jill! The Philippine Law doesn’t care about animals. If this was in the US, this would have been a multi-million lawsuit. Sadly, we are here in the Philippines where generally dogs are still dogs.

Looking back, I regret not having the same courage I have now for writing this story and publishing it for all to read. I guess it’s true. When you’re in the middle of a traumatic incident, everything seems to be a blur. Hollis has been gone for 3 years now but we haven’t forgotten him, especially my mom. His remains were cremated and I got a memorial wall for him at the PAWS Animal Shelter.

Case or no case, we stand by our belief that Hollis did not merely die of natural causes. At some point during the investigation, I heard speculations that the specific aircraft that carried Hollis Cebu Pacific Airbus 319 was not technically proficient to carry live animals in its cargo. I have not made any further investigation on this matter. All I know is that Mr. Millo himself claimed over a telephone conversation with my Aunt that he was actually the one who submitted a request to Mr. Lance Gokongwei to allow such aircraft to carry live animals. We don’t know whether this Mr. Millo is intelligent and qualified enough to render recommendations that warrant a scientific and legit engineering basis. Unfortunately, Cebu Pacific stands by its claim that Mr. Millo is already not connected with the company for further interrogation. For them the case is already closed.

So what’s my point in blogging the story now after 3 whole years? I’m not here to point an accusing finger. Not even to haunt Cebu Pacific. 3 years ago, our case fell into a lot of cracks. We weren’t prepared for the fight. So I guess all I want to do now is to let people know, pet owners more specifically, about this incident. If this happened to our Hollis, to our family, then it could certainly happen to you too. In the light of that cat serial killer case in UP Diliman versus this new Pet Airlines in the US, we can clearly see how far we have to go to fight for strong and working Animal Welfare laws in this country. 3 years ago, I admit, it was a long shot challenging Cebu Pacific with the words “See you in court!” And then I realized that this is the same fear that causes a lot of injustice in our country. When things are wrong we really do have to speak up and stick it to the man!