Honest Pinoy returns cash and iPhone in Qatar

An honest Filipino gym receptionist earned the respect of a Qatari trader after returning a pouch containing QR50,000 (P600,060) cash and an iPhone.

Jayson Castillo, 24, told Qatar's Gulf Times he saw the black pouch at Al Khor roundabout before noon Tuesday while he was on his way to work.

“You feel good when you have done something like this,” he was quoted as saying after returning the pouch, adding his parents taught him “to be an honest man despite being poor.”

The Gulf Times report said Castillo is a BS Nursing graduate whose father is a farmer in Pangasinan who also used to work in Taiwan but returned home after suffering a heart attack.

He recalled being hesitant at first to pick up the pouch because vehicles in the area "drive too fast."

As he has been only in Qatar for two months, Castillo phoned his friend Joey Angeles and sought advice on how to return the pouch. He said Angeles told him to go to the nearest police station.

The owner of the pouch as well as the police thanked Castillo, with the owner saying the cash and cheque were to pay the salary of workers at an establishment.

Gulf Times quoted the owner as saying the pouch may have been dropped from his vehicle when one of its doors was accidentally opened while making a turn at the roundabout. — KBK, GMA News