Mall guard returns P.1-M

Hard times are not enough to make an honest person turn bad. This was proven by a security guard at the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell Center after he returned a total of P100,000 instead of pocketing the amount.

Oscar Maucesa, married and with three young children, was on routine patrol outside the mall last week when he spotted what looked like a bundle of cash on the road. He already noticed some taxi drivers eyeing the bundle and said there was a driver of a big van trying to block other people’s way so that he could get to the money.

The quick-thinking Maucesa dashed for the money and got there ahead of the van driver. The money was only in a bundle and not even in an envelope and was all in P1,000 bills.

He candidly admitted that he was tempted to take the money just like the taxi drivers and the van driver. After all, even if anybody in the mall saw him take it, nobody would know if he did follow procedure and take the cash to the security office.

Maucesa didn’t need any witnesses only a clear conscience to go to his fellow guards as dictated by procedure and inform them of the cash he retrieved. The security office was immediately alerted and soon after, an American national came rushing asking if the guards had found P100,000 in cash.

The American, who was a regular at the mall, was asked where he lost the money and how it was wrapped. The inquiry quickly determined that the American who worked at a nearby multinational company was indeed the owner of the said cash.

He was actually surprised that the money was returned to him intact. Nearly speechless, he thanked Maucesa and gave him a P5,000 reward.

Maucesa said that though the money was obviously tempting he knew what his job was and that no amount of money was worth a clear conscience and the satisfaction that he had done his job. He added that he had no intention of raising his children with stolen money.