Honest HK OFW gets ticket home

Plus start-up money and scholarship for her kids.

By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: June 03, 2009


MANILA, Philippines—The jobless Filipino in Hong Kong who returned the HK$350,545 or P2.1 million in cash and checks she found in a garbage bin to its owner will get a plane ticket home, a start-up capital for a small business, and scholarship for her children.
All these, much more than the can of butter cookies she got from the grateful owner, were promised by Senator Francis Escudero, who on Tuesday said his office already communicated with Mildred Perez by phone Monday.

Her deed “only shows that Filipinos, however poor and lowly they may be, wherever they may be, are honest and morally upright. Perez should be emulated and recognized for what she did notwithstanding the dire financial straits she is in,” Escudero said in a statement.

For his part, Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla on Monday filed a resolution commending Perez for her honesty.

“By returning the money, Perez has demonstrated that the traits of honesty and trustworthiness are not lost among the Filipinos even abroad. Moreover, she has set an example, worthy of emulation which deserves the full appreciation and deep gratitude of the Filipino nation,” Padilla said in the resolution.

Husband also honest

Perez, who is from Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, will also receive P100,000 from officials of her province who said she is not the only one in her family who has demonstrated honesty.

Her husband Eddie, a tricycle driver, also returned an envelope containing cash to a passenger several months ago, Padilla said.

The passenger, a school official, had dropped an envelope of cash in the tricycle. When Eddie found the envelope, he drove back to Nueva Vizcaya State University, and was able to find his passenger by describing her to the people in the school.

Like his wife, “Eddie did not ask anything for returning the money,” Padilla said.

Perez, 38, a mother of two teenagers, has been out of a job since 2007 when she filed sexual assault charges against her Hong Kong employer.

She had been rummaging in garbage cans to retrieve soft drink cans, cardboard boxes, and other recyclables so she could earn money for her needs and to pursue her case in court.

Hong Kong law prohibits foreigners who have sued their employers to take up employment until the case is resolved.

Cookies for honesty

On April 29, Perez and a companion found HK$350,000 in cash and checks.

While the princely sum could have afforded her relief, she instead called up the company whose name was in the documents to return the money.

For her good deed, she was given a can of cookies.

“Mildred’s story reminds us all that even in the darkest of times, our ideals and principles should not falter. She could have chosen not to return the money and end all her sufferings in Hong Kong, but she chose not to,” Escudero said in a statement.

Padilla said he, Nueva Vizcaya Governor Luisa Cuaresma, and Bambang Mayor Benjamin Cuaresma decided to raise at least P100,000 to give to Perez.

Congressional resolution

“It’s not a reward. It’s a cash award for Mildred. It’s up to her if she wants to use it for the needs of her family. If we call it a reward, she might say that she was not asking for payment,” Padilla told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

He said he was also working on getting the House of Representatives to approve his resolution commending Perez. The measure, filed on Monday, was read on first reading on the same day although the rules technically require that it be read on Wednesday at the latest.