Melissa Mendez speaks up on deplaning incident

MANILA, Philippines – Fresh after news that she allegedly hurt a passenger and flight attendants on Friday, March 20, actress Melissa Mendez shared her side of the story.

She admitted that she slapped – not punched – the passenger, a friend of Andrew Wolff’s, but only because he was being rude towards her. She said that she did not hurt any of the flight attendants.

In an interview with Pep, she addressed the issue posted about by Philippine rugby team member Andrew Wolff in his Instagram. 

‘Hahampasin ko ‘yang mukha mo ng bag ko!’

Andrew Wolff said that Melissa Mendez wouldn’t leave the seats reserved for him and his friend. The flight attendants, along with the captain and ground security, had to ask her to move to her seats, which she eventually did “after 30 minutes of cursing.” 

However, Mendez said that she first asked Wolff and his friend if she could sit in one of their seats, because she wanted to take a photo of the clouds. She was with a friend on the flight.

“Habang wala pang nakaupo dun sa harapan, number 1A, umupo muna ako dun. Tapos nung dumating na yung nakaupo dun, na nakita ko si Andrew Wolff ‘tsaka yung kasama niyang lalaki na hindi ko kilala, sabi ko, ‘Puwede makisuyo, favor lang. Dito muna ako para lang pag-take off makuhanan ko ng picture yung clouds,’” she said. 

(The seats were still empty – seat 1A – I sat there first. Afterwards, the passengers who were supposed to be seated there arrived, and I then saw Andrew Wolff with a friend I didn’t know. I asked, “May I ask a favor? I want to sit here first so I can take a photograph of the clouds when the plane takes off.”) 

But Wolff’s friend said no, saying that he and Wolff paid for the seats she was sitting in. “Hindi puwede, binayaran namin ‘yang upuan na ‘yan. Binayaran namin ‘yang upuan na ‘yan.”  

(No, you can’t, we paid for those seats. We paid for those seats.) 

She said she knew, but Wolff’s friend apparently snapped at her and told her to leave, saying “Ay, hindi nga, e, hindi nga, e. ‘Pag hindi ka umalis diyan, hahampasin ko ‘yang mukha mo ng bag ko!’ 

(No, you can’t, no you can’t. If you don’t leave, I will slap your face with my bag!)

She said that this was the tipping point for her, the point where she got angry, and said this was disrespectful. 

She then turned to Andrew, whom she claimed was a friend of her daughter and brother, but he didn’t help her out at all. He instead said that he didn’t know who she was. 

‘She smelled like a beer brewery’ 

Wolff claimed that Mendez’s breath smelled ‘like a beer brewery,’ but Mendez said that it’s been a long time since she drank.  

She wanted to fix the issue on seating arrangements with Wolff’s friend, but when she continued the argument, the friend said, “‘Lumayo ka sa akin, ang baho-baho ng hininga mo! Bad breath ka! Bad breath ka, mag-toothbrush ka muna! Baho mo, baho mo!’ gumanun siya,” 

(“Stay away from me, your breath stinks! You have bad breath! You have bad breath, brush your teeth first! You smell bad, you smell bad!” the friend said.) 

“Ang iniinom ko nung umaga na yun, yung ipinapagawa kong juice sa PA [personal assistant] na sugar bits, papaya, apple, at saka pineapple,” 

(I drank juice made by a personal assistant this morning, made up of sugar bits, papaya, apple, and pineapple.) 

Wolff also suggested that maybe Mendez was drunk. She then confessed that she slapped the passenger.  

A few minutes after, a flight attendant called her attention, and then the captain announced that they were flying back to Manila due to an unruly passenger.  

‘Wala akong sinaktan na flight attendant’

She also said that she did not hit the flight attendants on the flight, because she thought it didn’t make sense, since they didn’t attack her or harass her in any way. 

“Wala akong sinaktan, wala akong inapakan, wala akong sinampal na flight attendants,” she said.  

(I did not hit anybody, I did not attack, I did not slap any flight attendants.)

“Ay, wala… wala. Sinungaling!” she said, on the claims of Wolff that she attacked the flight attendants.

(No, no! Liar!) 

Daughter Denisse Oca also commented on the incident, through a post she made on Instagram.

In the post, she said: 

 

“It’s so sad to know that some people really have no respect for women and elderly. If it were your mother, how would you feel if someone disrespects them? Naturally I feel the need to defend my mother.

First of all, she wasn’t drunk, she hasn’t had a sip of alcohol in years. Secondly, how hard is it to give up a reserved seat? Are all men like this nowadays and can’t give up his seat to an older woman in exchange for hers (which is mind you, just right behind his seat)?

I get that he paid for that “reserved seating,” my mom merely wanted to sit next to her friend and take a nice picture of the clouds upon take off. This all rooted from something so harmless, (I mean, clouds for crying out loud!) and yet it had spun out of control because some guy won’t give up his seat.

Let’s please take into consideration how he said he’ll throw his bag at my mom’s face if she didn’t leave his seat. “Hahampasin ko bag ko sa mukha mo pag di ka umalis diyan” were his words (I will hit your face with my bag if you don’t leave). Would a real man ever say that? That led me to ask my mom, “Is he gay?” I’m not saying he is, I just merely asked.

So really can you blame my mom for “punching” him? I don’t, I think he deserved it. 🙂 As for Andrew, what’s the point of posting something like that other than giving people something to talk about?

What good do you get from embarrassing my mother? I mean– WHY?? Don’t you have a mom, a wife, a daughter? Let’s hope they don’t suffer the same social shaming you’ve put my mom through. You must know what you did was wrong if you blocked me from your page before I could even see the post but you did it anyway.

Goes to show what kind of man you are, which is not much, really. As for everyone else, you people don’t even know what really happened and neither do I because I wasn’t there… And yet you are so quick to judge and laugh and act like you are better than us! I guess asking people for a little respect is too much to ask nowadays. People are mean, that’s a fact I have to live with.

And no she isn’t facing prison time nor is she paying a fine with Cebu Pac, but the person she got into a fight with is someone influential and her work gig was canceled. Power tripping at its finest.” – Rappler.com