Good for our image, good for our tourism

A taxi driver who returned a wallet left behind in his taxi is now reaping praises for his act of honesty.

You may have heard the story by now. Last January 18, Antonio Tundag Jr., 43, was hailed by a fare, a visiting Filipino who is now an American citizen, who later left his wallet in his taxi. Since the fare had his cellphone number, he called up Tundag and the taxi driver later returned the wallet to him at a radio station.

And the praise is well-deserved; not everyone can resist the temptation of holding on to ₱260,000.

A quarter million, even in today’s inflation-ridden pesos, can still go a long way. It can be used to send someone to school, buy the basic necessities, to help someone who is very ill, or even just to distract us from life’s difficulties.

We don’t really know if Tundag knew how much he was missing out on, but it is good that he resisted the temptation no doubt some of us would have fallen for.

Tundag’s honesty seems to have made a good impression; he said after he returned his money, the owner --who is on a long vacation here-- has called him up for a ride every now and then.

Tundag’s actions don’t just make him and other honest cabbies look good, they are also good for our tourism. Aside from the tour guides, hotel staff, and those in the hospitality business, people like cabbies actually help sell our tourism industry.

Tourists or visitors will feel safer when they know that if they happen to lose anything they can still get it back. And people who have had a good experience usually want to tell it to others. People who share good stories about us become our biggest promoters.

It would be good if we had more honest taxi drivers like Tundag, not just to serve as a shining example of honesty and decency, but also to help convince tourists that they have nothing to worry about here.