The l’ affaire Zest Air where City Mayor Dan Neri Lim is all over cyberspace as an overnight sensation has developed a new twist when it was confirmed Wednesday that he filed grave slander raps against two flight attendants, the pilot and one unnamed airline personnel, who earlier accused him of stripping and exposing himself during the airline plight from this city to Manila last Dec. 16. Lim began his fight for redemption when he filed the case against the four docketed as NPS no. XV-13-INV-11L-01851 which was received at 4:50 pm at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Pasay City. The charges were filed against flight attendants Camille Rose Diaz and Janine de Castro, Capt. Ronaldo Ramos and an unidentified male who was wearing a pilot’s uniform.

It was Diaz who alleged that the mayor stripped before the crew and passengers after she refused his request to use the lavatory while the plane was stationary after landing at the airport. While the plane was taxiing at the old Manila Domestic Airport, Lim allegedly requested to use the lavatory although the fasten-your-seatbelts lights were still on. De Castro corroborated Diaz’ story at the police detachment where Lim was taken immediately upon disembarking from the plane by three uniformed policemen who were waiting for him due to a call for police assistance from the plane captained by Ramos. The unidentified male accompanied the two flight attendants when they reported the alleged incident to the airport police.

In his affidavit, Lim said he made repeated requests to Diaz for the use of the lavatory to answer the call of nature. Diaz, however, refused to allow him even after he informed her that he is suffering from diabetes. Diaz also refused to entertain Lim’s request that she relay his predicament to the pilot saying that if she were the pilot, the answer would still be the same and that she might even be scolded. After Lim threatened to pee in his seat because he could no longer contain himself, Diaz was finally forced to relay his request to Ramos who granted the mayor’s request. The mayor thought that was the end to it but unknown to him, policemen were waiting to investigate him at the airport after a call for assistance was relayed to them. Lim said he wanted to talk to the pilot to clear things before they get out of hand but Ramos refused to face him and instead relinquished his authority and command of the aircraft and without giving him the opportunity to give his side regarding Diaz’ claims.

The mayor added that he overheard Diaz and her unidentified male companion say “ipa-media natin (we will have this reported in the media) at the police outpost. “It was at this time that the two flight attendants, Camille Rose Diaz and Janine de Castro accompanied by the unidentified male wearing a pilot’s uniform formalized their malicious and slanderous allegations that I unzipped my pants, removed my briefs and showed my private parts to the crew and passengers during the said flight,” the mayor said. Lim said it was a malicious allegation from a fertile mind and started to cause him embarrassment even when they were still inside the police headquarters considering that while he was explaining his side, he already noticed the presence of some media persons. “I then told the police who was investigating me that I am filing a case against the flight attendants, crew and John Doe and those who caused me this kind of humiliation,” he added. Lim said such “irresponsible, vicious and incredible accusations” relative to the said incident has caused so much humiliation, embarrassment and damage to his person and honor and also to his family who were greatly disturbed and greatly affected by such malicious and ill-motivated accusations against him.

In the evening of the same day, Paolo Bediones of TV5 Aksyon Balita reported the incident which focused mainly on the allegation of the flight attendant and giving only a few seconds for his explanation which was quoted from the text he sent to a TV5 reporter. The news was broadcast nationwide which prompted some of Lim’s relatives and friends to call him and ask him about the news which kept him awake that night. Lim’s claims were corroborated by a female witness who sat behind Lim during the flight from Tagbilaran to Manila. In her affidavit, the witness confirmed the exchange between Lim and Diaz until the point when she called the pilot and Lim was allowed to use the lavatory. She said she did not notice any expression of shock or alarm on the face of the flight attendant. “I observed the flight attendant grumbling while (Lim) was inside the lavatory and I then saw her talking to someone using the phone inside the plane cabin but I did not see her crying or in a state of embarrassment,” she added.

PROV’L DENIES SUSPENSION CALL

As Mayor Lim parried the verbal blows that came his way in the wake of the Zest Air episode, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Provincial Director Ma. Loisella Lucino has denied reports that she was among those who called for his resignation or suspension. Lucino issued the denial in her response to Lim’s letter inquiring about the truth of her reported involvement in the calls for resignation or suspension. “I categorically deny such report,” Lucino said in her letter to the mayor dated Dec. 22, 2011. Lucino recalled that while waiting for the start of the provincial peace and order council meeting, DyRD reporter Danny Reyes sat beside her and asked her views on the controversy. “It was then that I quoted the criminal case of ‘grave scandal and unjust vexation’ allegedly filed against you,” she added. Lucino insisted that she merely quoted what she read. The DILG provincial director said she “did not add anything to what was reported nor did I encourage anybody to file charges against you.” “I even mentioned that no administrative case can be filed against the mayor since the alleged act is not in relation to his official function,” she added.

Lucino said a call for resignation from her office is “uncalled for”. As a public official herself, Lucino said it is her duty not only to uphold the truth but to respect the right to due process accorded to everyone. In his response to Lucino’s letter, Lim thanked her for her prompt response and her assurance that she did not say the words attributed to her. “I do hope that your letter would put to rest all doubts as to your alleged complicity in the report in question and further erodes the assailed report,” the mayor added. As public servants, Lim noted that they are prone to accusations “in the same way that we are also susceptible to be misquoted or worse given attribution to remarks we never made.” The mayor earlier wrote Lucino formally requesting to know if the report was true and that how come her name was mentioned.             “I hope that you can enlighten me on this matter because a public servant like me serves at the pleasure of the people who elected me,” he added. Lim said any indication of impropriety, “such as the one my opponents want to impress upon the public, would be to a big blow to my credibility.”

LIM ASSURES ROBLEDO

I am humbly submitting myself to your Office for the said investigation with the prayer that it proceed without delay. This was the assurance given by Mayor Lim to DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) passed a resolution asking the DILG to investigate the mayor over the Zest Air incident. Lim wrote Robredo expressing his intention to submit to the investigation being called for by the SP in reaction to the controversial airplane incident. The resolution, sponsored by Board Member Cesar Tomas Lopez, was unanimously passed during the SP session last Dec. 23. “I vehemently deny such an allegation but unfortunately, her story has been carried in many tabloids and even on TV,” the mayor told Robredo. Worse, Lim said his political opponents and enemies have exploited the issue which leaves him with no other option but to take legal action not only on the plane crew which was responsible for spinning and spreading the lie “but also those who caused its publication and broadcast with manifest malice.” “In this regard, I am humbly submitting myself to your Office for the said investigation with the prayer that it proceed without delay,” he added.

The mayor said he was making this manifestation even though DILG Provincial Director Loisella Lucino had manifested in writing her opinion that “no administrative case can be filed against the mayor since the alleged act is not in relation to his official function”. “I have nothing to hide so I welcome this opportunity to air my side and clear my name before the said inquiry subject to the mandate and jurisdiction of the Department,” he added. Lim said he has full confidence in the objectivity and fairness of the Department under Robredo. A copy of Lim’s letter was furnished to the League of Cities of the Philippines through San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez.  In as check with Board Member Lopez during DYTR’s radio program “Cuentas Claras”, he said the resolution was not in the form of an investigation but just a “mere inquiry” to the DILG. Passed unanimously the SP resolution sought an inquiry from the DILG so that Lim will be given the opportunity to air his side, according to Lopez. Asked about his thought about the SP resolution, opposition Board Member Dionisio Balite said he registered his objection about the so-called inquiry saying he was aware that the provincial board has no jurisdiction over the city mayor’s actuation during the ill-fated flight. The occasion was the pre-caucus conference of the SP but his objection was drowned out by the majority decision. In fact, during the same pre-caucus conference, he was joined in his position about the Lim affair by V-Gov. Concepcion Lim, the SP presiding officer.