(Grace Laxamana and the Benjamins she found. Contributed Photo)
AN AETA utility worker at the Clark International Airport returned to authorities an envelope containing US$1,000.00 left behind by a departing passenger on July 14.
Grace Laxamana, 42, said she noticed an envelope left unattended on one of the gang chairs at the second floor of the international departure area while on duty at about 2:50 p.m.
The envelope contained ten pieces of US$100 bills totaling $1,000.00.
“I thought it was just play money and immediately took the envelope and turned it over to airport operations officer Raymund Salazar who examined the contents. It turned out that the money was genuine,” Laxamana said.
A closer review of the CCTV footage of departing travelers on the afternoon of July 14 showed one of the passengers dropping a white envelope while about to board Cebu Pacific flight 5371 bound for Singapore.
“We’re proud of what Ms. Laxamana did. Her honesty is even more glaring since what she found was an untraceable envelope. Her good deed is truly worthy of emulation by all airport employees,” Jaime Melo, Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president, said.
As of today, no one has claimed ownership of the money, the airport chief said.
Laxamana started working at Clark airport in 2006 and part of her job as janitress is to report to operations staff things that are left unattended around the airport.
“We assure passengers of our strict policy to immediately turn over or return lost or abandoned items to their rightful owners,” Melo added.
