MANILA, Philippines – An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) earned praise for an honest act in a bus filled with foreigners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Raymond Lopez works in Riyadh as Administrative Assistant, Accounts Receivable Representative and Physician Billing at King Saud Medical City.
According to Raymond, he often rides the SAPTCO bus which often has foreign passengers like Pakistani, Nepali, Sudan, and Bangali but rarely does he encounter Filipinos on his daily commute. Sometimes, there are drivers who are Pinoys and he would chat with them through the ride.
Last July 23, he had just boarded the SAPTCO bus with the route from Al Batha to Olaya when he noticed a brown wallet at the back of the seat he was about to take. With no one seated on that row, Raymond picked up the wallet and quickly searched for the owner’s iqama (residence ID) to ensure the item gets returned to the right person.
Never once did Raymond think of keeping the wallet for himself, despite opening it and finding 8,000 riyals (Php104,000) inside. Instead, he thought about how the person who lost the wallet would feel if someone else had found the item and kept it to himself.
After taking some pictures of the wallet, Raymond started creating a post on Facebook about the lost item when a distraught-looking guy boarded the bus and began searching the empty seats at Raymond’s back. He was speaking rapidly in Arabic, in words that Raymond could not fully understand.
But because Raymond had seen the wallet owner’s iqama photo, he knew this guy was the rightful owner.
He stood up and called the guy, “Mudir! Buk enta.” (Sir! Your wallet.)
Amazed that this Filipino guy was returning his wallet, the owner, Nagemeldin Mohamed, hugged him and kissed his head in a gesture of goodwill and gratitude.
The bus driver who witnessed the whole thing remarked, “Kulo Filipin mara kwayes.” (Filipinos are a group of good people.)
The bus full of foreigners was all praises for Raymond, the honest Pinoy guy.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
Raymond Lopez works in Riyadh as Administrative Assistant, Accounts Receivable Representative and Physician Billing at King Saud Medical City.
According to Raymond, he often rides the SAPTCO bus which often has foreign passengers like Pakistani, Nepali, Sudan, and Bangali but rarely does he encounter Filipinos on his daily commute. Sometimes, there are drivers who are Pinoys and he would chat with them through the ride.
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| Photo credit: Facebook / Raymond Lopez |
Last July 23, he had just boarded the SAPTCO bus with the route from Al Batha to Olaya when he noticed a brown wallet at the back of the seat he was about to take. With no one seated on that row, Raymond picked up the wallet and quickly searched for the owner’s iqama (residence ID) to ensure the item gets returned to the right person.
Never once did Raymond think of keeping the wallet for himself, despite opening it and finding 8,000 riyals (Php104,000) inside. Instead, he thought about how the person who lost the wallet would feel if someone else had found the item and kept it to himself.
 |
| Photo credit: Facebook / Raymond Lopez |
After taking some pictures of the wallet, Raymond started creating a post on Facebook about the lost item when a distraught-looking guy boarded the bus and began searching the empty seats at Raymond’s back. He was speaking rapidly in Arabic, in words that Raymond could not fully understand.
But because Raymond had seen the wallet owner’s iqama photo, he knew this guy was the rightful owner.
He stood up and called the guy, “Mudir! Buk enta.” (Sir! Your wallet.)
Amazed that this Filipino guy was returning his wallet, the owner, Nagemeldin Mohamed, hugged him and kissed his head in a gesture of goodwill and gratitude.
 |
| Photo credit: Facebook / Raymond Lopez |
The bus driver who witnessed the whole thing remarked, “Kulo Filipin mara kwayes.” (Filipinos are a group of good people.)
The bus full of foreigners was all praises for Raymond, the honest Pinoy guy.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
