LIMAY, Bataan- It may be too late but good deeds have to be told.
A 55-year old single lady finance officer of the Department of National Defense Arsenal in Lamao, Limay town returned P750,000 in cash to the Land Bank of the Philippines branch in Balanga City after finding out that the amount exceeded what she was supposed to withdraw.
Carmelita Mendoza, who has been working with the government arsenal for 33 years, on August 6 withdrew P1.5 million in cash as payment for nighshift differentials, hazard pay and quarter allowances of employees of the ammunition plant.
She said she it was the bank cashier, assisted by two lady tellers, that handled her transaction. “Because it was already past noon, I had also posted a member of my office to witness the money preparation, so I had no doubt that the money was the correct amount,” the finance officer said.
At the arsenal, some 30 kilometers from Balanga City, Mendoza distributed the payroll money to four paymasters of the government bureau but she found out an excess of 15 bundles of P50,000 per bundle of P500 bills or a total amount of P750,000.
She said she asked the paymasters if the amount they got was already complete. She reviewed the cash transfer slip of the LBP and she could not be wrong. The money she got was really more than what she withdrew.
The finance officer said she called up the bank cashier and had the money returned by her staff the next morning. “Alas-4 na ng hapon ko na-kontak ang cashier dahil sa laging busy ang telepono at sa oras na iyon ay mahihirapan na kaming maglabas ng sasakyan sa arsenal kaya kinabukasan na nasauli ang pera,” she said.
“Kahit mahirap ako, hindi ko pag-iinteresan ang perang hindi sa akin,” Mendoza of Barangay Townsite in Limay said.
She said she rather preferred to keep the incident secret because she has known the cashier for quite some time. But it turned out that her assistant superintendent went to the LBP-Balanga to request for a letter of recognition or appreciation from bank manager Sylvia Lim.
Lim, however, reportedly said that it was not their standard operating procedure to grant certificates of recognition. The bank manager was in a seminar of LBP employees in Dinalupihan, Bataan and could not be reached for an interview.
Mendoza said that the bank manager personally thanked her when she withdrew payroll money last August 14.
It was learned that sometime in 2003, Mendoza also returned to the Land Bank P2,500 that exceeded her withdrawal.
“Ayokong ipaalam sana ang pagsasauli ko ng pera subalit hindi ko malaman kung paanong nakarating ito sa labas,” she said repeatedly.
