Baguio City is known for a lot of things - the unique culture of its indigenous people, the scent of pines, Burnham Park, Session Road, strawberries, ube jam, and a plethora of other things. You can now add to this list the honesty of the city's taxi drivers.
There are of course bad apples among them as we hear every now and then of taxi drivers in the city who are rude and disrespectful or worse robbers and rapists. For sure, these bad apples affect the reputation of the whole bunch but the fact remains that Baguio City's taxi drivers are often more honest and trustworthy if you compare them with drivers from other urban centers in the country like Manila.
There are of course bad apples among them as we hear every now and then of taxi drivers in the city who are rude and disrespectful or worse robbers and rapists. For sure, these bad apples affect the reputation of the whole bunch but the fact remains that Baguio City's taxi drivers are often more honest and trustworthy if you compare them with drivers from other urban centers in the country like Manila.
It's not much of a surprise therefore to hear of a recent incident wherein a Baguio City taxi driver returned a bag of cash worth 120,000 pesos to a passenger who left it in his cab. Franc Eduard Hidalgo (the passenger) forgot his bag one night inside the taxi being driven by Venancio Peralta. Hidalgo can't remember the name of the taxi so he was very worried that he might not be able to recover his money.
To his surprise, he received a message in the morning from the taxi driver saying he wanted to meet up so he can return the bag. So they did and Hidalgo got all of his money back. Peralta also refused the reward that Hidalgo tried to offer him.
To his surprise, he received a message in the morning from the taxi driver saying he wanted to meet up so he can return the bag. So they did and Hidalgo got all of his money back. Peralta also refused the reward that Hidalgo tried to offer him.
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| Photo by Daniel Horacio Agostini via Flickr. |
Hidalgo posted his experience with Peralta's honesty on Facebook. Here's the full text of said post:
"INTEGRITY — doing the right thing even when no one is looking."
About two weeks ago, late at night, while on my way home, I carelessly forgot my bag in a taxi in Baguio, containing my notes, my letters, important files, my sunglasses, my iPad, and at least Php120,000.00. I forgot the plate number of the taxi, I couldn't recall the name of the taxi or even the driver. I panicked!! And didn't know what to do.
The next morning, THANKFULLY, I received a message from the taxi driver that he found my bag, and wanted to meet up to return it, and when we met, he gave the bag and all its contents completely, and even refused the reward I was handing to him.
I'm so happy that there are still good and honest people in this world.
Thank you so much, kuya Venancio Peralta, a man of integrity!! And special mention also to his son for helping, Jhoven Barlaan Peralta!
SMD taxi
plate number: AYS 730
