RSSPinay waitress in Singapore returns bag with P500K
Sep 20
Global Pinoys, GMA News, Proud to be Pinay Marites Galam, OFWs, Proud to be Pinay No Comments
When Filipino waitress Marites Galam found a worn out handbag on the toilet roll dispenser of a shopping mall in Singapore, she was not once tempted to keep the $16,600 (P500,000) inside it.
Instead, the mother of three from Nueva Vizcaya turned over the bag and its valuable contents to her general manager at the Imperial Herbal restaurant inside the VivoCity shopping complex.
“I’m a mother myself and I thought that since there was so much money, its owner probably needed it for something important,” Marites was quoted in Singapore’s The New Paper report on Thursday.
And indeed her instinct was right. The handbag she found belonged to an Indonesian housewife who flew to Singapore with her husband’s three-year savings for the ear surgery of their 23-year-old son, Michael, to keep him from becoming totally deaf.
“The money came from my husband’s savings. He took three years to save that amount from his furniture business. I was so worried that it was gone just like that,” said Lanny Sasmita, who profusely thanked Marites for returning her bag.
She lost, and found the bag, on Saturday evening. She went back to the mall the next day to thank Marites for returning it.
“We were touched by Ms Galam’s honest actions as we thought anyone would be tempted by so much money,” Lanny added. She said her husband retired recently because of ill health.
“I believe a person will be blessed if he/she does good. Besides, I’d have a bad conscience if I took the money,” Marites said.
Marites also worked as a waitress in the Philippines but came to Singapore to earn more for her children.
The amount in the bag would have been enough to send her three children to school and provide enough for their daily needs. Her husband, who is also in Singapore, is in between jobs.
Good deeds reap great rewards
Wang Jinhui, Marites’s boss, honored her as the company’s employee of the month. He also graciously gave her a $200 cash bonus in hopes that “her actions will be an example for other staff.”
Lanny also offered Marites a $200 reward to which Marites refused, according to The New Paper. She “only accepted reluctantly after Mrs Sasmita cried and begged her to take the money.”
Marites earns a decent $1,800 a month, a far cry from the $16,600 she found inside Lanny’s bag. She could have also pocketed the money for herself; after all, she has young mouths to feed back in the Philippines. But not once did her values flinch.
“As long as my children have three meals a day, I’m happy,” she said.
Lanny was frantic that the bag she left at the third floor of the mall would be forever gone.
“Michael had been in pain from his ear infection and I worried that he couldn’t have the surgery without the money,” said Lanny. “Three years ago, doctors told us that he needed surgery. Otherwise, he could become deaf,” she explained.
She also could not think of an explanation to her husband on how she lost the money.
Apparently, Lanny unknowingly left the bag in the washroom at the third floor after hearing the announcements that the mall was about to close. She only found out that the bag was missing while waiting for a taxi cab outside the mall with her son and another relative at around 10 pm.
Fearing for the worst, Lanny went back to the VivoCity security staff and reported that she lost a gold colored handbag that contained several $1,000 bills.
To her relief, her bag was returned to her with the money still intact. It turned out that Imperial Herbal restaurant’s manager handed over the bag to the mall security after Marites gave it to him.
For now, everything seems to be going better for both Marites and Lanny.
The New Paper reported that Michael had undergone a successful surgery at the Singapore General Hospital on Monday and the family will return to Jakarta after two weeks.
The Philippine embassy in Singapore, after learning of Marites’s good deed from the news accounts, contacted Marites and honored her on Wednesday.
“The embassy contacted me (Wednesday), asking me to pose for a photo with the ambassador. He said I am a good example for foreign workers from the Philippines and wanted to spread the news to the Philippine media,” Marites said.
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