Honest JO worker now permanent employee

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — Forty-four-year-old Rosalito Mamita, who has been a job order worker at the City Hall for almost 21 years since, is now a regular employee of the city government.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez, yesterday rewarded Mamita for returning to its owner a bag of money that he found last Tuesday while doing his regular chore of cleaning the ground near the City General Services at the City Hall.

The bag, which contained P240,000 cash and not P100,000 as earlier reported, was returned intact to its owner, a collector of Brigham Real Estate, who inadvertently lost it.

Romualdez, touched by rare act of honesty, led the recognition ceremony for Mamita inside his office where he also ordered Rowena Mate, head of the Human Resource and Personnel Division, to process the papers elevating the honest worker to permanent employment status.

"We have to recognize this seldom honesty of a government employee, hoping he will be emulated by other workers in government. Mang Rosalito, despite his dire financial situation, was not blinded by the huge amount of money he found, and did not take interest in taking something that was not his own. We need more of the honesty of Mang Rosalito in the City Hall. That is why he is qualified to be a regular employee of the city government,” the mayor told the audience.

Mamita, for his part, said that upon finding the black bag and discovering it had money in it, he immediately informed his immediate superior of the City General Services Division about it. Later in the afternoon, when the owner of the money came back to look for the bag lost the day before, Mamita approached him and gave back the bag with all the money in it.

Top officials and employees of the city government were impressed on the laudable and inspiring deed of Mamita, despite the present hardship of his family and the still unrepaired house that was destroyed by Yolanda in 2013.

A co-worker Cecelio Ordovez, told The FREEMAN that Mamita's honesty was known to all at City Hall as his nature and practice. From late last year to early this year, Mamita had returned at least five expensive mobile phones that he found to their respective owners.  (FREEMAN)