Jules Ledesma calls out airline over name mix-up on wife Assunta de Rossi’s ticket

Jules said Assunta’s ticket was booked under “Maria Assunta,” but her name is written as “Ma. Assunta.”

By the time the problem came up, Jules and the rest of their group were already in the PAL lounge. Assunta had to stay behind at the counter to fix it.

Jules vented on social media in a post written in all capital letters. He said it was the second time his family had run into the same problem.

“Everyone knows Ma. and Maria are one and the same. I’m at the PAL lounge, and my spouse, Ma. Assunta is still at the counter because her ticket is Maria Assunta instead of Ma. Assunta. This is the second time this has happened to us. PAL, WTF is going on?!” he wrote, along with a photo of Assunta and his daughter.

The post got more criticism than sympathy. Many netizens said that since the family had been through this before, they should have been more careful when they booked.

“Haven’t you learned the first time? This can be prevented from happening again if you just used Ma. Assunta when you bought the ticket. I know Ma. and Maria are one and the same, but since you’ve encountered this problem before, you should have learned to do it ‘the best way’ to avoid the possibility of encountering the same problem again,” one commenter said.

Other commenters said “Ma.” and “Maria” are not the same on official documents. For them, the only correct version is the one on your passport or birth certificate.

“No, they’re not the same. If ano ang nasa passport and birth certificate, ‘yun po dapat ang naka-indicate sa lahat ng credentials. I have Maria as my second name, and if mine was written as ‘Ma.,’ I will not allow it po, kasi it’s not Maria,” one netizen wrote.

Another quoted the standard reminder passengers see when booking a flight.

“Alin sa ‘Please ensure that the name on your ticket matches exactly with the name on your ID or government-issued document’ ang mahirap intindihin, Mr. Lawmaker?” the netizen asked.

PAL answered Jules’s post. The airline said it had checked his booking and was looking into how its staff in Bacolod handled the situation.

“Dear Hon. Ledesma, we have gone through your booking and what happened at the Bacolod station. We are reviewing how our team handled your case. We understand how upsetting this was for you. We will be emailing you directly,” PAL said.

Jules, whose full name is Julio Ledesma IV, belongs to the wealthy Ledesma family of San Carlos City, long known in Negros Occidental’s sugar industry. He was congressman of the province’s 1st District from 1995 to 2004, and again from 2007 to 2016. He ran again in the May 2025 elections and won the seat back.

Assunta was born Assunta Schiavone in Italy to an Italian father and a Filipino mother. She started in showbiz in 1995 on That’s Entertainment and spent her teenage years on the gag show Bubble Gang. Her younger sister is actress Alessandra de Rossi.

The couple married in civil rites in San Carlos in December 2002, when Assunta was 19. No one from her family was there. They had a church wedding on March 14, 2004, at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati, with Alessandra as maid of honor.

In October 2020, Assunta gave birth to the couple’s first child together, Giulia Fiorentina Alessandra, or “Fiore.” Assunta called her a “miracle baby.”

Jules also has two children from his first marriage to Maria Victoria Tsung Pek, who died in 2000.