A tricycle driver who returned a bag containing PHP20,000 is earning the praises of various sectors here.

Jervin Udarte Abuzo went to the City Information Office (CIO) after he recovered a bag left by one of his passengers on May 4.

Aside from the cash, the bag also contained important documents.

“Mr. Abuzo went to our office to help him locate the owner of the bag. Through some identifications, the owner was immediately contacted and was asked to proceed to the CIO,” Michiko De Jesus of the CIO told the Philippine News Agency on Wednesday.

The bag’s owner, Manilyn Poliga, described the tricycle driver as “good-hearted” as the latter handed back her belongings.

Poliga said she did not notice she left the bag after disembarking from the tricycle, and it was already late when she realized her bag was missing.

The PHP20,000 cash, she said, was intended to buy materials for the repair of their house.

In a statement Wednesday, the CIO recognized the “honesty and righteousness” of the tricycle driver.

In the same statement, Abuzo was quoted as saying that despite the difficult situation nowadays, he did not hesitate to return the bag to its owner.

His instincts, he said, told him that the owner needed the money and that returning it was the right thing to do. (PNA)