Melissa Mendez to Andrew Wolff: ‘I have forgiven you’

MANILA, Philippines – Actress Melissa Mendez had a message for Andrew Wolff, whom she says she forgives despite the accusations he made about her:

In an interview with Startalk on Saturday, March 21, she said, “Dun naman po kay Andrew Wolff na blinock niya po ako (For Andrew Wolff who blocked me online) after posting that video. I don’t know what your intentions are, but I have forgiven you.”

In tears, she also told viewers on the show that she’s a good person despite her errors, “Mabait po akong tao. Nananalig sa Panginoon. Kristiyano po ako pero tao lang po ako, marunong po akong masaktan. Marunong ako magalit.” 

(I am a good person. I have faith in God. I’m a Christian, but I’m also human. I can get hurt. I am capable of getting angry.)

Melissa Mendez was kicked off a plane on Friday, March 20, due to allegedly attacking Rey Pamaran, a friend of Philippine rugby team member Andrew Wolff, and flight attendants. But she later came out with her side of the story that same evening, where she denied the claims of Wolff, who documented the event on his Instagram. 

Daughter Denisse Oca also posted a statement on Instagram, saying she believes her mom deserves respect.   

Message to children and Rey Pamaran

Mendez also apologized to her children for embarrassing them, saying: 

“Unang-una, gusto kong mag-sorry sa mga anak ko. If I failed you, I’m so sorry. Napahiya ko kayo, sorry talaga, mga anak, kasi di ko naman sinasadya. Lumaban lang ako bilang babae kasi sobra lang ako napahiya. Sobrang humiliation, sobrang embarrassment. Na-degrade po ako.” 

(First of all, I want to say sorry to my children. If I failed you, I’m so sorry. If I embarrassed you, I’m really sorry because I didn’t do this on purpose. I only fought for my right as a woman because i was extremely humiliated. The humiliation and the embarrassment was too much. I felt degraded.) 

Due to the fact that the airplane had to return back to Manila due to Mendez’s acts, she apologized to the passengers, whom she thought was caused great distress: 

“At gusto ko pong humingi ng sorry sa lahat ng mga pasahero po na na-abala. Kung may mga meetings po kayo na kailangan n’yong puntahan pero dahil po sa pangyayari, na-abala ko po kayo, I’m sorry.” 

(I want to say sorry to all the passengers who were disrupted. If you had meetings that you had to go to but missed doing so because of everything that’s happened, and I delayed all of you, I’m sorry.)

Lastly, she had a message for Rey Pamaran:

“Kung kay Rey Pamaran naman, after sa lahat ng sinabi mo sa akin, sana marealize mo na meron kang nanay, meron kang kapatid na babae, na sana nirerespeto mo.”

(To Rey Pamaran, after all that you’ve said to me, I hope you realize that you have a mother, a sister that I hope you respect.)

Mendez has already approached the organization Gabriela, and is also seeking the help of a lawyer.  

Rey Pamaran’s side of the story

On Friday evening, March 20, Andrew Wolff’s friend Rey Pamaran spoke up on the incident. Pamaran was the one who accompanied Wolff on the flight to Pagadian, and was the one whom Mendez allegedly hit.

He released his story on his Facebook account as reported by Pep, saying:

“A very funny/ degrading/ disgusting incident happened during my Manila-Pagadian flight today. “Upon getting to my reserved plane seat 1A, actress Melissa Mendez was seated there. “She was politely asked to transfer to row 2 because the seat was already reserved.  

She immediately flared up and caused a big scene, shouting invectives at me and cursing me left and right.  

She was finally restrained and was made to sit to her assigned seat behind me, her female companion assuring everyone that she will be calm. 

Midway thru the flight, she got up again and started shouting at me, she was reeking with alcohol and had very bad breath. 

I told her to calm down, get some mouthwash then we can talk. 

It is here that she suddenly punched me in the face. 

I admit I was this close to hitting her back but my good senses came into play. 

The captain made an announcement that we need to return to Manila due to one unruly passenger.

As we landed Manila, she was then escorted out of the airplane and into a waiting bus, with about 20 security personnel,” he wrote.

He also said that he was considering filing cases against her. “According to Philippine law for grounds for unacceptable behavior on board aircraft (disorderly conduct), she will be fined no less than 500k pesos and could be imprisoned for up to 3 years. I am seriously filing several cases against her too. I usually avoid things like this, but this is just way below the belt.”

This post is no longer available for public viewing on Facebook.

Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, March 20, Wolff also commented on the issue, highlighting on the fact that he didn’t recognize Mendez at all.

“Ms. Melissa claims to have been disrespect that I didn’t recognize her during the incident. My fault for not knowing all showbiz stars here. I am not involved in showbiz na po kasi (anymore),” he shared to Pep.

He also said that they never bullied or disrespected her, as per her claim.

“The fact is, hindi po siya binastos or binully. […]Wala kaming kasalanan sa kanya. Hindi naman po kami pinababa o kinuwestiyon ng police dahil we were sitting there peacefully waiting to get to the destination. Walang nakitang masama ang staff ng Cebu Pacific sa actions namin.”

(The fact is, she wasn’t disrespected or bullied.[…]We have no fault. We weren’t asked to go down or to be interrogated by police because we were sitting there peacefully waiting to get to th destination. The staff of Cebu Pacific did not see anything wrong with our actions.)

He also said that moving forward, they have no plans of being interviewed on the issue anymore, saying that the truth will come out. “Sapat na po ang statement na ito at hindi na po namin kailangan pa magpa-interview dahil naniniwala po ako na lalabas din ang buong katotohanan.”

(This statement is enough, and we don’t need to be interviewed further because I believe that the whole truth will come out.) – Rappler.com