Untold story of ‘hero’ taxi driver in Philippines who returned P14,000 left in his car

  DUBAI – Filipino taxi driver Ramil Modanza has been hailed a modern-day hero for returning 14,000 pesos that his passenger left by mistake in his vehicle. News of Modanza’s heroic deed first spread on social media, after his passenger, Richelle Ann Santos, posted the story on Facebook last week. She had not expected to get her money back and was amazed to be proven wrong by Modanza’s honesty. She spoke to ExpatMedia.Net in a separate interview about the incident. Modanza, in an exclusive interview with ExpatMedia.Net, said that the incident was a test of character. The 47-year-old, who worked as an air conditioning technician in Dubai from 2008 to 2011 before returning to the Philippines to earn a living as a taxi driver, said he did not have second thoughts returning the money. “Sabi nga kung ano ang itinanim mo yun ang aanihin mo. Kung nagtanim ka ng kabutihan, kahit matindi ang pangangailangan mo, hindi ka dapat magpapatukso… Hindi ko pwedeng kunin yun. Alam mo kung bakit? Kasi kung galing sa kasamaan kukunin ko po yun, hindi maganda po (There’s a saying ‘You reap what you sow’. If you plant good even if you are in dire need you shouldn’t allow yourself to be tempted… I could not keep the money. Do you know why? Because if I take what is not mine then it is not right),” he told ExpatMedia.Net. However, he said the credit doesn’t all belong to him. The two other passengers who clambered onto his taxi shortly after Santos left had found her wallet and had handed it to him. “Kung sino man sila, salamat rin sa kanila (Whoever they were, thank you to them),” he said. What was the first thing he did after receiving the wallet? He finished his shift, went home, broke the news to his family and counted the money. “Para po alam ko kung magkano talaga ang laman ng wallet para walang problema pag soli ko sa may-ari (So I know how much money the wallet contained so there wouldn’t be a problem with the owner when I returned it),” he said. Had he kept it, the money could have gone a long way to help Modanza, who earns a modest 500 pesos (Dh40) to 1,000 pesos (Dh80) a day, working from sunrise to sundown, six days a week to be able to provide for his family, including his two children in college and one child in high school. He wants to show his family that he is able to provide for them with decent, honest work, he said. And honest he has always been. Ziad, his former boss at Al Tayyar shop in Dubai's Umm Ramool area, also told ExpatMedia.Net that Modanza had always been a “very honest” worker. Modanza said he wants to do his part in bringing back trust in people. Trust, he said, is something that is easily broken these days, with some people forced to do bad things due to their circumstances in life. Last year, he said, he was robbed by two men during his dawn shift. “May dala kasi silang bayong, nagpapanggap na mamamalengke (They were carrying a basket and pretended to be market shoppers),” he said. They went off with the silver necklace that his wife gave him, and his gold wedding ring. He estimates the jewellery cost a total of 4,000 pesos. But that hasn’t destroyed his trust in humanity, he said. “May mga mabubuti pa rin namang tao sa mundo (There are still a lot of good people in the world),” he said. And what did his family say when he told them he had found some money and was returning it? The timing was almost surreal, he said, as his 22-year-old son needed 12,000 pesos for his school fees. But nothing could stop him from returning the money. “Lahat sila supportive. Yung asawa ko sabi isoli na agad. Yung anak ko rin sabi nya i-try nyang hanapin sa Facebook. Buti na lang nahanap nya si mam Richelle (They were all supportive. My wife said we should return it right away. Even my son volunteered to help trace Richelle on Facebook. It’s a good thing he found her),” he said. If karma could pay this forward, is there anything Modanza could ask for in return? “Sana lang po pumasa naman yung anak ko sa review nya ngayong Sabado (I just hope my son will pass his review this Saturday),” was his wish. 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