An honest worker at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport returned a pouch containing more than P120,000 owned by a Korean tourist, airport authorities said Monday.
Hwang Sung Ha, who arrived via Asiana flight OZ703 on Oct. 31, unknowingly dropped his pouch at the UBE Express counter at the arrival area of NAIA Terminal 1.
The pouch, which contained an Asiana Club Visa card; Shinsegae Duty Free card; $2,056; 31,000 Korean won; 6,020 Thailand baht, and P20, was found by Judith Mertola, an employee of Lucky Jet Travel and Tours around 12:30 pm the next day.
Mertola immediately informed her co-worker Pinky Rose Canicosa who accompanied her to the Intelligence and Investigation Division-Lost and Found Section of the Manila International Airport Authority to surrender the pouch.
IID personnel, with the help of Asiana Airlines station manager Alvin Suarez, contacted the foreigner through his given phone number but to no avail.
Airport officials decided to wait for Huwang Su Ha at the airport when they learned he was scheduled to depart via flight OZ-702 on Nov. 26.
After checking in for his flight, the foreigner was approached by Asiana ground handling agents and invited him to the IID office to claim his pouch.
Mr. Ha was speechless after seeing his pouch and all its contents intact, authorities said.
He admitted that when it was lost, he got dismayed and would have left with a bad impression about the Philippines.
“This experience is worth sharing with my colleagues and relatives. I will tell them that Filipinos are honest and hospitable,” he said as he promised to visit the Philippines again.
MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal praised Mertola for her honesty and for not taking interest in what she found. “I admire her for choosing to do good,” he said.
Monreal appealed to all airport workers to follow the gesture of Ms. Mertola. He also commended the joint effort of the MIAA-IID, Lost and Found section and Asiana Airlines for this achievement.