Bumped-off Pinoy airline passenger to get P750,000

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered Japan Airlines to pay P750,000 to a Filipino passenger who was prevented from donating his kidney to an ailing relative in the United States after he was told to disembark from a JAL airplane on suspicion that his travel documents were faked.

In an eight-page decision penned by Justice Magdangal de Leon, the CA’s eighth division ordered Japan Airlines to pay Jesus Simangan P500,000 in moral damages and P250,000 exemplary damages "arising from breach of contract of carriage."

Court records showed that in 1992, Simangan was asked to donate a kidney to his cousin Loreto Simangan, who needed a transplant. Loreto was then undergoing dialysis treatment at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine.

After receiving a letter of request from UCLA, Simangan undertook a series of laboratory tests at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) that confirmed his kidney and tissue type were compatible with Loreto.

Simangan was issued an emergency US visa by the American Embassy in Manila so he could immediately travel to the US for the transplant operation. After his US visa was approved, Simangan purchased a round-trip plane ticket from JAL for $1,485 and was issued the corresponding boarding pass.

On July 29, 1992, Simangan boarded the JAL flight to Los Angeles, California via Narita, Japan.

While inside the JAL airplane, one of the flight attendants asked Simangan to present his travel documents and he complied. Shortly afterwards, according to the complaint, the stewardess, accompanied by a Japanese and a Filipino, arrogantly ordered Simangan to stand up and get off the plane.

The JAL crew suspected Simangan of carrying falsified documents and believed he would use his trip to the US as a pretext to stay and work in Japan.

Simangan protested to the JAL crew and explained that he had personally secured his US visa, but was forced to deplane. He waited for three hours at the JAL ground office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) where he was later told his travel documents had been verified and were in order.

The findings of the JAL ground office came too late, though, as the plane he was scheduled to board for the US had already taken off.

Simangan said the cost of the ticket was refunded to him, minus $500, and his US visa was canceled.

On Aug. 29, 1993, Simangan sued JAL for damages before the Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela City, docketed as civil case no. 4195-V93.

Simangan said that, as a result of the incident and because he was rendered unable to help his ailing cousin, he suffered terrible embarrassment and mental anguish. He asked the Valenzuela RTC to award P3 million in moral damages, P1.5 million in exemplary damages and P500,000 for attorney’s fees. — Jose Rodel Clapano