ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/22 July) – The story of an honest driver is a welcome respite for the Tricycle Adjudication Board (TAB) as complaints against overcharging and abusive tricycle drivers in this city continue to mount.
Ernesto Sambeon, 34, a tricycle driver of Logoy Diutay, Barangay Talon-Talon has earned the respect and admiration of Zamboangueños for returning a wallet containing cash, credit cards and automated teller machine cards (with PIN numbers attached) to his passenger who had left it inside his vehicle.
The TAB, headed by city legal officer Norberto Patriarca, has facilitated Thursday the return of the wallet to its rightful owner, Felino Santos, the news editor of Golden Broadcast Professionals, Inc. (GBPI)-TV 11 who also writes for the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Patriarca said Sambeon exemplifies honesty, a virtue that is slowly fading among tricycle drivers in these hard times.
Instead of taking interest in it, Sambeon turned over the wallet to the TAB to facilitate its return to Santos, Patriarca said.
He hoped that other drivers will follow Sambeon’s example.
He believed there are numerous honest tricycle drivers who are worthy of admiration and emulation despite the mounting complaints against abusive drivers in this city.
Sambeon said he did not hesitate to return the wallet when he discovered it in his tricycle a few minutes after he dropped Santos at Campaner St., where the GBPI-TV-11 is holding office, coming from Talon-Talon around 2 p.m. Thursday.
He immediately turned over the wallet to the TAB at City Hall through Patriarca, who instructed TAB member Linda Mandi to contact Santos.
When contacted, Santos was surprised to discover his wallet was missing.
The wallet contained P7,200 cash, two credit cards, two ATM cards and other documents.
During the turnover at the TAB office, Santos thanked Sambeon for his honesty and sincerity and rewarded the driver with P2,000.
“Thank you very and may your tribe increase,” Santos told Sambeon.
He likewise thanked the TAB for being the conduit between him and the tricycle driver and for truly performing its mandated duties to look after the welfare and protection of the commuters and regulating the operation of motorized tricycles in the city.
Meanwhile, while Sambeon exhibited Thursday an example worth emulating, Mohnaber Sadjail, also a trike driver from Veterans Ave., came to the TAB office to supposedly face his complainant whom he allegedly charged P1,500 as passenger fee from Corcuera St. downtown to the bus terminal in Barangay Guiwan.
Sadjail could have gotten away with the complaint from the out-of-town passenger since the latter was not able to appear in the office. However, in the process, it was found out that Sadjail was driving a tricycle with an expired franchise documents.
As it turned out, Sadjail will have to pay a penalty fee of P2,000 plus other surcharges – a bit higher compared to the supposed penalty of P1,500 for overcharging.
Mandi said that Sadjail’s motorized tricycle with plate number JX-5677 was impounded and will have to settle all the renewal requirements before he can reclaim the unit. (MindaNews)
