Friday, May 23, 2008 Waiter who returned P1M to owner gets reward
AN HONEST waiter who returned the P1 million cash he earlier found to its rightful owner was commended last Thursday by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.
Binay lauded Alexander "Stitch" Latag, 23, a resident of Caloocan City who found the money in a blue SM plastic bag last May 7 on a seat outside the Cyma Estiatorio Restaurant where he works as a server at Greenbelt 2 in Makati City, which was left by a customer named Rose Rafael.
Rafael is the chairperson of a recruitment agency Skyworld Business Merger, Inc. The P1 million was supposedly the payment from jobseekers who paid P200,000 each as placement fee to the company.
"In times like these, it is very hard to find people who would not be tempted by easy money. I hope that more people would emulate the good deed of Alex Latag," Binay said.
In his letter to Latag, the mayor said, "your honesty certainly contributed to the good name of Cyma Restaurant."
He also earned the praises of his colleagues and the management of Cyma Estiatorio and the restaurant's bosses issued a memorandum praising Latag's honesty when he returned the P1 million cash a customer had left at the restaurant.
Grateful, Rafael rewarded him with P100,000.
"My parents taught me not to take anything that doesn't belong to me. I know what I did was right. And I really pity the owner (of the money)," Latag said.
At first, Latag thought that the bag was just trash or a bomb but he checked the contents first before throwing it out until he found out several bundles of P1,000 bills.
"I looked at it to check whether it was trash or a bomb and I feel nervous when I saw bundles of P1,000 bills inside the bag," he said.
When he showed it to a colleague, a lot of things played on their minds, he said. They thought it might be ransom money or for illegal purposes.
Latag said he saw the woman who left the bag outside Cyma. He waited one-and-a-half hours for her to come back and when she did not, he gave the bag to their manager, Jay Espinosa.
Espinosa sealed the bag with a scotch tape and place it in a vault but Rafael returned in the evening just as they were about to close.
"She (Rafael) looks so worried. She said she could not remember where she actually left the money," Espinosa recounted.
After the required check, it was only the time Espinosa admitted that the money was in their possession. Rafael returned the following day to retrieve the money and gave the cash reward to Latag.
"From the bottom of my heart, please accept this reward," Espinosa quoted Rafael as telling Latag.
"I'm not even expecting that she would give me something as a reward," the waiter pointed out.
Espinosa said Latag is one of his best servers in the restaurant and is loved by customers for his sense of humor and genuine care to them.
"If he's on duty, it seems like we have a stand-up comedian. People laugh at him. He has good PR. He looks after them so much, that's why customers really like him," said Espinosa.
Latag said he does not even know what to do with the money, which he had kept in a bank. Through to his being generous and kindhearted, he has thrown a blowout to his colleagues.
"My parents told me that I did the right thing. They were so happy and proud of me," he said.
Latag, being the only child, is the breadwinner of the family. He lives with his parents in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City.
His mother sells breakfast foods in the neighborhood while his father used to drive a jeepney but had stopped after figuring in an accident.
Espinosa said Latag also helps in the treatment of the ailing wife of his cousin Ricardo, who had helped him through college until he graduated with a Hotel and Restaurant Management degree from the University of Manila.
"I'm saving money so I could buy a house for my parents and possibly, a jeepney for my father," Latag said when asked about his ambition in life.
Latag said he is already processing his papers so he could go back to work abroad.
"I love serving people. This is what I want to do," he said.
Last year, another waiter of Cyma named Anthony Cayabyab II returned a wallet to Noel Gonzales, a Muebles Italiano owner, who accidentally dropped his wallet in the men's room. Gonzales thanked Cayabyab and rewarded him for his good deed.
"I also extend my sincere congratulations to Robby Goco, owner of Cyma and its entire management, for being blessed with honest employees," Binay said. (AH/Sunnex)
