Another tale of honesty at Naia

AN AIRPORT taxi driver turned over to the authorities a pouch containing $1,600 in cash and some personal items left behind by a passenger, who was eventually traced and contacted through social media.

Anthony Masa of the Jorivim Transport Corp. noticed the pouch in the back seat of his yellow metered cab around 5 p.m. on Saturday while helping a foreigner with his luggage at Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

He pointed it out to the foreigner, but the latter said he was not the owner. Masa then remembered having an earlier passenger that day: a Filipino he picked up at Terminal 1 and brought to Coastal Mall in Parañaque City.

The 37-year-old driver decided to turn over the pouch to the Intelligence and Investigation Division (IID) office at Naia, where Lost and Found staffers looked for clues of ownership among the other contents of the pouch, including a debit card and a voter’s ID issued to one Leobert Baylon of Maragondon, Cavite.

The office then made contact with Baylon through Facebook, confirming him to be the owner, according to Lt. Edgar Ridad of the IID.

“He’ll be coming over soon to retrieve his belongings,” said Ridad, who is recommending that the Manila International Airport Authority cite Masa for honesty.

Aside from the cash and the cards, Baylon is also getting back his earphones, mobile phone charger and pair of sunglasses.