The Manila International Airport Authority is set to give a commendation to the airport janitress who returned last week a plastic bag of cash in different currencies.
“It is our pride to have silent heroes like her in our midst. What she did should inspire other airport workers to do the same,” Miaa general manager Jose Angel Honrado said of janitress Mary Jennifer Doroga, 32.
Doroga, of Baltao, Parañaque City, was about to go home from her duty on April 26 when she saw the plastic bag at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1 arrival customs counter.
“It was the first time that I ever held such an amount, but it never crossed my mind to keep it,” Doroga said. “I don’t keep what isn’t mine.”
Doroga, who earns a meager salary, said she immediately sought the help of a Customs officer, who in turn proceeded to the airport’s central paging system in a bid to find the owner of the items.
When asked if she knew the equivalent in pesos of her find, Doroga said no but claimed she knew it was enough to help her family.
“But that is not what honesty is all about,” she said.
Doroga’s find was inventoried and now in safekeeping of the Miaa Intelligence and Investigation Division (IID).