Honest Naia porter returns $5,600

MANILA, Philippines—A porter at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) who desperately needed money was sorely tempted when he found a bag that contained $5,600 in cash.

The money, equivalent to over P200,000, would have been more than enough to pay for the hospital bills of his father who recently suffered a stroke.

But in the end, Manuel Audis Jr., 37, decided to promptly return the money to its owner.

“I’m afraid of karma,” Audis, who has been working as a porter at the airport for the past seven months, said in a phone interview.

A resident of Sunvalley in Pasay City, Audis was working at the Naia Terminal 1 arrival area at around 5 p.m. on Monday when a male passenger called his attention to a maroon bag that had been left on a pushcart.

A check of the bag showed its owner to be Vlama Kasan Bailon, a Filipino worker who had just returned from Jordan.

Audis said he was walking toward the information counter to page Bailon when he saw a woman running toward him.

At the airport’s Police Intelligence and Investigation Division, an overjoyed Bailon counted the money in her bag and found it intact.

Asked if he was given any reward for his honesty, Audis said it was enough that Bailon had thanked him.

He admitted, however, that he immediately thought of his 65-year-old father at the sight of the money.

Manuel Sr., who recently suffered a stroke, has been confined at Pasay City General Hospital for almost a month now.

“Honestly, I thought of my father and his condition but I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself and I would forever be bothered by my conscience if I had kept the money. I know it’s wrong,” he added.

He said he also thought of the situation as a test of his character.

“It’s as if fate was testing me. But I knew that the money wasn’t meant for me so I should return it to its owner. Besides, someone worked hard for that money,” Audis said.

Although he knows he will not be able to pay for his father’s hospitalization, he said he was certain that his father would be proud of him.

Audis said that they were forced to borrow money from loan sharks to support his father’s medication.

“But it’s okay, I know he’s [Manuel Sr.] happy because I did the right thing. I know God will help us get through this,” he added.