The City Administrator’s Office has commended a tricycle (Piaggio) driver, who personifies the cardinal virtue of honesty, after he returned to the owner the P150,000 cash he found along the road in Barangay Baliwasan Monday afternoon, August 26.

Assistant City Administrator Dolph Saavedra facilitated today, Aug. 27, the turnover of the money from the driver identified as Eusebio Montefalcon, 58, married, a resident of Barangay Sinunuc, to the owner named Jaime Bernardo, 60, married, a resident of Barangay Labuan.

City Administrator Atty. Wendell Sotto and Baliwasan Barangay Secretary Mike Gregorio together with some traffic enforcers witnessed the turnover of the money in City Hall.

Bernardo, who just retired as bus driver of D’Biel Transportation Company, narrated to Saavedra that early on Monday he went to his employer to claim his retirement or separation pay amounting to P150,000.

Shortly after the money was handed over to him, Bernardo said he put the money in a pink pouch and put it in his sling bag. Then, around 12:48 noon time he left the Biel compound and headed for home on a bus to Labuan.

When the bus was already halfway, only then did he notice that his pink pouch containing the money was gone; unknown to him, it fell from his sling bag when he embarked on the bus.

Terrified, he asked the bus driver to drive him back to Biel’s compound in Baliwasan, but his efforts to find his money proved futile. Frustrated, he went home extremely restless.

In the meantime, Montefalcon said he was driving past D’Biel compound Monday afternoon, when he saw a pink pouch along the road. He picked it up and kept it in his sidecar, not knowing what was in it. He went home, still he did not bother to inspect the pouch.

Unknown to both drivers, the incident was captured by the CCTV cameras of Barangay Baliwasan. Search for the Piagio driver was launched by the barangay and traffic enforcers, who eventually traced Montefalcon in his residence.

It was only then did Montefalcon realize that the pouch he had never paid attention to was in fact containing huge sum of money—a whooping P150,000 cash, more than what he could earn from driving for months or even years.

The enforcers then inspected the pink pouch. Lo and behold, it contained a thick bundle of money in P100, P500 and P000 bills. They wrapped the pouch in a plastic bag, and together with Gregorio, the enforcers accompanied Montefalcon to City Hall, where the latter returned the money, completely intact, to Bernardo.

In turn, Bernardo was grateful to Montefalcon, the barangay and the city government.

Both drivers went home and parted ways with a sigh of great relief, happily contented.

Saavedra also thanked the Barangay Council of Baliwasan headed by Chairperson Aimee Cabato for having installed CCTV cameras, which proved helpful in more ways than one.(Vic Larato)