AN engineer left his wallet inside a taxi cab when he got out of the vehicle somewhere near the big mall in diversion road. Other than the P20,000 cash, it contains important contact numbers badly needed for his work as fire safety consultant.

Luckily, he remembered it was Melvin Taxi he took for a ride. He called its office to inform the management about the incident. Mr. Melvin Odicta is the operator-owner of Melvin Taxi while his wife Miriam, is the operator of Miriam Transport, with GT Van serving passengers from SM City to the Iloilo Airport and vice-versa.

The caller was Engr. Ronald P. Agpaoa, a fire safety consultant with office address at Makati City, Metro Manila. He then went to Melvin Taxi garage at Delgado Street, City Proper, to tell the owner that he can only identify the driver by face.

Odicta immediately called over the radio to all drivers of taxi units on who has found a wallet left by a passenger just few minutes ago. Engr. Agpaoa was also waiting at the garage hoping for the recovery of his wallet and its return to him.

Unfortunately, they got negative reply from most of the taxi drivers. But about five hours later, a Melvin taxi driver resurfaced at the garage to turn over a wallet he found at the back seat of the cab.

When asked why he did not respond to the alarm aired over the radio, the driver said his radio was not functioning, thus, he knew nothing about the incident. He only returned to the garage to turn over the wallet found inside his cab.

When the wallet was opened, the engineer claimed all are intact and nothing was missing. He cannot believe there are still honest drivers today despite their miserable plight under the shadow of poverty.

He handed a P1,000 bill to the driver as reward for his good deed. The engineer also told the taxi owner that this sort of honesty is no longer found among taxi drivers in big cities like Metro Manila.

As noted, Engr. Agpaoa was impressed by the honesty of Ilonggo taxi drivers. While on the way home, he gave a call card to the driver telling him about his projects in Region 6 and the latter can call him anytime if he needs a job.

The returning of the lost wallet by the driver triggered jubilation among fellow drivers and workers at the garage. What really matters in the story is honesty of all drivers and workers being a laid-down doctrine of their boss known in the world of his own as the Dragon with a Lion’s heart!

We can count honest people today by our fingers. But dishonest ones are perhaps ten times more in number. The poor driver of Melvin taxi could have kept that wallet and just find an alibi to get out of the mess he’s in, but did not.

The big amount could have saved the family’s good meals more than three times a day for at least a month. But despite the hardships of life, he resisted the temptation of greed. The management of Melvin Taxi proudly claims they have this kind of people in their stable.

But take the case of the Road Users Tax. It is another mess for all vehicle owners. Melvin Taxi and its drivers are not spared from this. The government has made over P60 billion from this tax in just a little over three years but most of our roads are still damaged and not properly attended to by public officials concerned

Yet, members of its Board of Directors have mansions, luxury vehicles and one has even acquired two yachts for personal pleasure. It took decades for stooges of past administrations to amass the same amount of loot these present clique of thieves have plundered in less than four years!

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is right on target. This new clique of thieves in the Road Users Tax is another syndicate we have to deal with.

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