Erwin Cariaga (right), an employee of Island Central Mall in Lapu-Lapu city, returns more than P59,000 cash to Joel Mondares (left).
LAPU-LAPU CITY — A mall employee here on Monday turned over to police more than P59,000 in cash that he found scattered beside a mall escalator on Sunday.
Erwin Cariaga, a 45-year-old maintenance worker of Island Central Mall in Cebu, said he tried to trace the owner of the money before turning it over to police.
A receipt from a money changer was found with the cash.
Joel Mondares reported to police on Sunday afternoon that he had lost the same amount of cash.
When the police received the lost cash from Cariaga, they immediately contacted Mondares.
Mondares said he did not notice that he had dropped the bills, adding that the money was to pay for salaries at a travel agency he is connected with.
Even though Cariaga needs money for his sick wife, he said he never thought of keeping the cash.
"I do not want to use money I did not work hard for. That amount of money probably belonged to a person who needed it more. That's what I thought when I found it," Cariaga said.