Taxi driver with sick wife, overdue rent returns lost $17,000

[WoodysGirl]

MANILA, Philippines — He needed the money for his sick wife and overdue rent, but honesty prevented a motorcycle taxi driver from keeping $17,000 left behind by a passenger.

Iluminado Boc returned the money to police in Tagbilaran city on central Bohol island last week, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Monday. The woman who lost the bag of cash had just reported it to police when Boc showed up at the precinct.

"It was not mine," Boc was quoted as saying.

Boc, 45, said he was struggling financially because his wife was taken to a hospital the same day he found the money, and they had unpaid rent.

The owner rewarded him with $32 — about seven times what a motorcycle taxi driver makes a day.

 

[Hoov]

wow. i think of myself as an honest person, but given the mentioned circumstances i dont know if i would have returned the money, must have been tempting.

 

[Hostile]

Wow. In the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling...

"You're a better man than I am" Gunga Din.

 

[Goldenrichards83]

$32 dollars, she gave him $32 dollars. :bang2:

 

[lane]

$32 dollars, she gave him $32 dollars. :bang2:

you forgot a couple of these.......





:bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

 

[calico]

what a story. Good to see not everyone in this world has gone nuts. I would have given him alot more money than that, damn.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

The woman who lost the bag of cash had just reported it to police when Boc showed up at the precinct.

Based on the just the little experience I've had with the Philippino judicial system and it's human rights beliefs, or lack there of, I'd say he did the logical thing.

 

[trickblue]

I can empathize with some of you in that the fact he only got $32 for his honesty...

The fact of the matter is that no one should receive a reward for being honest. Doing the right thing is reward enough...

Yes, it sounds sucky, but doing the right thing isn't always profitable... and it shouldn't be...

 

[Hoov]

I can empathize with some of you in that the fact he only got $32 for his honesty...

The fact of the matter is that no one should receive a reward for being honest. Doing the right thing is reward enough...

Yes, it sounds sucky, but doing the right thing isn't always profitable... and it shouldn't be...

That is true, but i'm sure the thought would come to mind that anyone carrying around 17,000 cold cash and ...oops i forgot it, cant need the money that bad.

If i have more than 200 cash on my person i get nervous and i am aware right where that money is at all times. Who leaves a bag with that much cash in it, only someone that obvoisuly would not feel the loss that great.

 

[CoCo]

I can empathize with some of you in that the fact he only got $32 for his honesty...

The fact of the matter is that no one should receive a reward for being honest. Doing the right thing is reward enough...

Yes, it sounds sucky, but doing the right thing isn't always profitable... and it shouldn't be...

Doing the right thing is always profitable. Just maybe not financially.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

wow. i think of myself as an honest person, but given the mentioned circumstances i dont know if i would have returned the money, must have been tempting.

I know I wouldn't have returned it ZOOM

I know, I know, I'm a bad person, but I'm a broke person too, I gotta eat!

 

[Cajuncowboy]

OK. $32.00

Ever think that maybe she was a courier and the money wasn't hers? Maybe it was her boss' and if he found out that she lost it she might be fired.

Just a thought and looking at it from both sides.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I think everyone is forgetting that $32 is a week's worth of pay for him, he's barely getting a percentage of the 17thou, but he got compensated pretty well

 

[Doomsday]

OK. $32.00

Ever think that maybe she was a courier and the money wasn't hers? Maybe it was her boss' and if he found out that she lost it she might be fired.

Just a thought and looking at it from both sides.

If he just saved my butt from getting canned for losing 17k it would be worth more then $32 to me. Im just curius how she came up with 32 why not 30 or 35. Just seems like a ridicilous number to me.

 

[DallasEast]

I'm sorry, but... how in the WORLD do you forget $17K? You forget your hat, fine, but $17,000? These kinds of stories mess with my brain. There have been rare occasions where I have transported valuables and the only thing that I could think of was how painfully tight I would keep hold of whatever I was carrying. If it had been $17,000, I'm not certain if the money could've been pried from my hands. And don't get me started about the sheer paranoia which would have gripped me while taking it from point A to point B.

 

[Juke99]

Not for nuthin' but I'm not a person who applauds things like this.

He returned something that didn't belong to him.

Whoooppeee.

Ya see, we've become so accustomed to people being rotten that when someone returns something that doesn't belong to them, we applaud it.

Sad statement.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

Not for nuthin' but I'm not a person who applauds things like this.

He returned something that didn't belong to him.

Whoooppeee.

Ya see, we've become so accustomed to people being rotten that when someone returns something that doesn't belong to them, we applaud it.

Sad statement.

Agree 100%. I was in Opryland and found a wallet under a bench beside a trashcan, with over $700 in it. I turned it in and the girl at L&F asked for my business card and where I could be reached in Nashville in case the owner showed up and wanted my info "for a reward or something".

I told her, No thanks. If I'd of wanted publicity for returning the cash, I'd of taken it to the paper. You just give the wallet back to the owner, and tell them I hope they have a good vacation.

 

[Seven]

$32 dollars, she gave him $32 dollars. :bang2:

you forgot a couple of these.......





:bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

That's real close to 530.00 bucks in the Philippines. For that kind of money he could get his wife a boob job following her medical attention AND pay the rent for a year. Don't glamorize a philipino taxi.............probably a scooter with a couple of milk crates attached to it. I'm not joking. I've never been to a more sub-third world country in my life. Very sad.

No, it's not all the more reason to keep it. With that kind of cash, now public knowledge...........you're a marked man.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

I can empathize with some of you in that the fact he only got $32 for his honesty...

The fact of the matter is that no one should receive a reward for being honest. Doing the right thing is reward enough...

Yes, it sounds sucky, but doing the right thing isn't always profitable... and it shouldn't be...

The Lord saw him, and the Lord will reward him.

 

[03EBZ06]

I can't count how many times I've been to Philippines, thanks to the Navy. $32 doesn't seem much to us, but as stated, it is a large sum to most of the Philippinos. Shoot, I can remember when $20 lasted entire night of drinking binge when I was a young sailor.

I'm surprised that some one would carry around 17k cash around because I've seen too many scammers, thieves there, not saying all are like that but with their economy, those type seeking to rob and steal are prevalent. I am also surprised that the taxi driver returned the money, especially in his financial state but then, chances are if he did, he would be accused of taking the money.

In Philippines, the justice system is nowhere like ours, they don't believe in due process and they hand out very harsh punishments.

As for why $32? It's most likely due to dollar to peso exchange rate. I'm guessing $17k was in Peso, not dollars. So if exchange rate is ~46 peso to $1, then it would come out to something close to 1,500 pesos, perhaps reward was ~1500 peso then it would be close to $32