Hiking poles with carry-on luggage on Cebu Pacific

Last night, on arrival in Manila, coming from Cebu via Cebu Pacific, I noticed two hikers with hiking poles attached to their bags. The official policy, according to the CebuPac website is that these should've been checked-in. In the past, I've always had my bags checked-in just because I was travelling with hiking poles, although I coud've done away with it (based on total luggage weight) as carry-ons.

What's your recent, personal experience with Cebu Pacific? Did those hikers just got lucky in Cebu-Mactan airport?

I honestly don't want to "save" money by having my poles in my carry-ons, only to lose them from airport security staff who can arbitrarily decide what you're allowed to bring as carry-ons, or not.