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PAL ground attendant claims lawmaker berated her


A Philippine Airlines ground attendant on Wednesday accused a party-list lawmaker of berating her, calling her a "menopausal bitch" after she declined his request to seat him with his sons in a Los Angeles-bound flight last weekend. In an interview aired on dzBB, PAL ground attendant Sarah Bonning-Ocampo identified the lawmaker as Rep. Eulogio "Amang" Magsaysay of the Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE) party-list. Magsaysay, son of a former senator, declined to answer the allegation. "Huwag na lang [ako mag-react] at hahaba pa iyan. Basta wala kong inagrabyado. Alam iyan ng Diyos. Thanks and Merry Christmas," he said in a text message to dzBB's Rowena Salvacion. According to Ocampo, the incident happened last Friday, December 17, around 10:30 p.m. at Ninoy Aquino International Airport's boarding area, shortly before the departure of a PAL flight bound for Los Angeles, California. Ocampo said she was busy attending to the business class passengers when Magsaysay and his two sons approached her to request if he could be seated together with his children as their seat assignments are far apart. Ocampo said she replied saying: "Sir, all seats are taken. We don't have the power [to do what you are requesting]." Upon hearing her reply, Magsaysay allegedly snapped and answered back with a raised voice: "Easy ka lang! Easy ka lang (Take it easy)!" Ocampo said she just chose to ignore the incident and moved away from the lawmaker. At the time, she said she did not know that Magsaysay was a congressman. "Pero tingin pa rin siya nang tingin sa akin na parang kakainin ako ng buhay (But he kept on staring at me as though he was going to eat me alive). I was uneasy," Ocampo said After a while, she said she decided to approach Magsaysay and asked him: "Sir, do you have a problem with me?" Magsaysay allegedly fired back with harsh words: "Shut up, you bitch! You menopausal bitch!" Ocampo said she was shocked at Magsaysay's words, which she said were heard by her supervisor and colleagues. Although she warned the lawmaker she would report the incident to the security guard, she said she did not do so and went back instead to her post at the boarding area. But, according to her, Magsaysay once more shouted at her: "Oh asan ang security mo ha (Where's the security personnel you are crowing about)? Try me! Try me! Papasisante kita (I will have you fired from work)!" She said Magsaysay's two sons, who were beside him all those time, were laughing at the turn of events. Ocampo said she turned teary-eyed and just left the area while her supervisor apologized to the lawmaker. Her supervisor later told her that the passenger was a congressman. But Ocampo said she has already decided to file a complaint. "I really have to [file a complaint], because I am not a dog. I am a person," said Ocampo during the radio interview, her voice already shaking. Ocampo said she repeatedly ignored Magsaysay's harsh words but added she just couldn't take it that the lawmaker kept repeating that she was a "bitch." "A lawmaker should not be a lawbreaker. May profession siya. Wala siyang karapatan magmura kahit kanino," Ocampo stressed. Ocampo admitted she failed to report for work a day after the incident. "I could not get myself to work," she said. 'She yelled at me' In a text message sent to GMA news anchor Arnold Clavio, a staff from the lawmaker claimed that Ocampo raised her voice when she refused to heed Magsaysay's request to be transferred seats. "Itinaas niya ang boses niya. Nakiusap siya pero pinagalitan pa sya," read the text message. Magsaysay's camp said the lawmaker would be issuing an official statement about the incident on Thursday through the newspapers. Ocampo insisted she did not yell at Magsaysay, adding: "My voice is not high-pitched. It's just normal." Asked to react on Magsaysay's threat to report the incident before the House of Representatives, Ocampo said: "Let him, let him." Awarded educator Magsaysay is the second child of the late Senator Genaro Del Fiero Magsaysay of Castillejos, Zambales and Adelaida “Baby" Canoy Rodriguez of Rodriguez, Rizal. Before entering politics, he worked at the Philippine National Bank and in Los Angeles, California as a senior mortgage officer. He has been a lecturer in various schools including the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) and the and O.B. Montessori College. For two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, he was named one of the most outstanding congressmen by Congress magazine. In 2006, he was chosen by the Huwarang Pilipino Foundation, Inc. as one of the Huwarang Pilipino Awardees in the field of public service. — LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV

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