Honest police aide returns lost check

QC POLICE aide Michael Rafael (right) returns a check for P98,000 to its rightful owner, Insp. Romeo Mata. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A civilian employee of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) will be cited for his honesty next week after he returned a check for P98,000 he found inside the police headquarters to its rightful owner.

“I am working hard and making an honest living for the sake of my children. I have no interest in things that are not mine …,” Michael Rafael said.

The 30-year-old Rafael is an aide in the office of QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano.

Around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, he was walking back to his office inside the QCPD headquarters when he came upon a rectangular piece of paper on the floor.

It turned out to be a check for P98,000 in the name of Romeo Mata who turned out to be a police inspector assigned to the QCPD Tactical Motorist Unit.

Mata, who was grateful when the check was returned to him, said that it was a loan he had taken out to pay for his child’s tuition.

Albano said Rafael would be given a commendation next Monday. “We should all emulate his example in working hard and being honest,” he added.

Rafael and his wife Marian both work at the QCPD with the latter also an aide at the office of QPCD deputy director for operations Senior Supt. Procopio Lipana.

Rafael, who has been with the QCPD for the past seven years, also showed his honest streak in February when he returned Lipana’s cell phone after the police official left it in one of the offices.

“Should it happen again, I would return anything, cash or check, since I am earning a living for my children anyway,” he said.