It was a truly moving scene as the Cebu Pacific flight of Ariel Balame and his three young children touched down at Cauayan Airport on November 28, 2018, on the final leg of his long journey back to his home province of Isabela. Suffering from community-acquired pneumonia (defined as a lung disease contracted by a person with little access to healthcare) complicated by hypoxemia, an unusually low level of oxygen in the blood, Ariel had already given up hope of seeing his relatives in Isabela again after more than a decade of separation. But thanks to the intervention of Scarlette Mae Llanes, his wish came true.
A chance encounter with Scarlette Mae at the Valladolid District Hospital in Negros Occidental on July 9, 2018 set everything in motion. Accompanying her husband to the hospital, it was there that they learned about Ariel’s health problems, which had been ongoing since February. Due to his poor health, he could no longer work and his children—Shane, 12; Webster, 10; and Sheryl, 9—had to stop school. Living in poverty in a cramped shanty, the family had to rely on the kindness of their neighbors for their day-to-day survival. “Kuya Ariel told us that told us that he wanted to go home to their hometown in the province of Isabela, so that whatever may happen to him, there is someone who can take good care of his three children,” recounts Scarlette Mae. “My husband said we should help him, but we aren’t rich, we couldn’t provide for his needs. That’s when I started writing to people and organizations asking if they could help. Cebu Pacific was the first to reply,” she continued. She took a chance by leaving a message on the airline’s Facebook page, and she was pleasantly surprised when they immediately contacted her.
As it so happens, Cebu Pacific was in the midst of launching its Make Moments Happen campaign, envisioned to “inspire Filipinos to keep on creating and celebrating real-life moments with the airline.”
Scarlette Mae, who was the catalyst in connecting Cebu Pacific and Ariel, said that he was apprehensive at first when she first tried to help him. He could not believe that strangers were willing to go out of their way to assist him. But a month after their last encounter, Scarlette Mae finally had some good news: Cebu Pacific would fly him and his children to Isabela for free. Ariel was overcome with emotion. “He is a man of a few words. When we told him the news, he was just quiet, but tears started coming down his face,” said Scarlette Mae. The acts of kindness had a snowball effect: other generous sponsors came in to help make the trip happen. Before the flight, the family had breakfast in Negros, courtesy of fast-food company Jollibee. The Provincial Government of Negros Occidental provided the family with some pocket money, while the Negros Occidental office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development provided the shuttle that took everyone to the airport.
Scarlette accompanied Ariel and his family on the first leg of their journey, from Negros Occidental to Manila—it was the kids’ first trip on an airplane. In Manila, Roxanne Gochuico, corporate social responsibility specialist promotions at Cebu Pacific, gave the family a warm welcome. Courtesy of the Belmont Hotel Manila at the Resorts World Manila complex, Ariel and his children enjoyed an overnight stay in a family room, with full use of the hotel’s amenities. Then they had a satisfying dinner at Shakey’s Newport City, which also gave the kids some gift packs. The following day, after a delicious breakfast at the Belmont Hotel, they took another flight to Isabela’s Cauayan Airport, before reuniting with Ariel’s sister in their hometown.
Following the siblings’ reunion, there was more good news to come, as Mae reports that the Patul Elementary School in Santiago City, Isabela, was offering to assist Ariel’s three children with their schooling.
In a video taken by Scarlette Mae and shared on her Facebook page, Ariel gratefully thanked all those who made the trip possible: “Salamat sa Cebu Pacific, kung hindi dahil sa inyo, hindi kami makakauwi sa aming pamilya sa Isabela… nagpapasalamat kami ng taus puso sa lahat ng mga nag-sponsor. Salamat po ng marami.”
