Cop turns over $2K left behind in taxi

Cebu City police chief, Senior Supt. Noli Romana publicly commended a policeman for handing over a bag containing over $2,000 cash, jewelry and other valuables he found in a taxicab last Friday.

Romana presented SPO2 Isagani Ceniza of the CCPO Public Safety Company to the media at yesterday’s news conference.

Ceniza said he was helping his wife with her grocery bags when she arrived in their store in barangay Quiot Pardo when he noticed a black belt bag at the passenger seat. He then asked the taxi driver, Noel Arana, if the bag was his. Ceniza, who was not in uniform, introduced himself as a policeman when the driver said that he doesn’t know who owns the bag.

“I gave my telephone number to the driver so that if the owner would look for the belt bag, they can call me,” he said.

The bag contained $2,093 (around P90,000), pieces of jewelry, an American passport, assorted documents and personal belongings. The passport is under the name of Erlinda Fleming of Dallas, Texas. The documents also bore Fleming’s name that indicate that she’s a retired employee of the US Department of Defense.

Ceniza called the Guadalupe Police Station and had the incident recorded in their blotter as according to the driver, the passenger that preceded his wife got off at Sitio Oppra in barangay Kalunasan which is within the jurisdiction of the police precinct.

The bag is now in the custody of the CCPO.

No one has come forward to claim the bag as of press time.

Ceniza said it was his first time to find such large amount of money, but keeping the cash and valuables never crossed his mind.

“As what the bible says, if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? If you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?“ he said when spoke in yesterday’s news conference.

Romana commended Ceniza’s honesty, saying he should be emulated by other police officers as well as government workers. /Michelle Joy L. Padayhag and Chito O. Aragon

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