A Filipino community leader earned praise and reward recently after she returned a wallet belonging to a local resident which she found on a street in Shaukeiwan.
Nilma Carigaba, president of the South Cotabato Workers Association, was told “You are the best” in a Facebook post by the wallet’s owner, Isaac Lam, who also insisted on giving her a $300 reward.
In her own post, Carigaba said: “Thank you, Isaac Lam, for your $300 reward. I returned your wallet which I found on the street. It’s right and just to return the things which doesn’t (sic) belong to me. Once again, thanks for the reward. God bless.”
Carigaba said she was on her way to see a doctor in a family clinic in Shaukeiwan when she spotted something that looked like a pile of garbage on the street ahead of her. But when she got closer she saw that it was a wallet full of cards.
She said she was afraid and nervous at first because she thought someone was playing a trick on her, but she saw everyone around her just walking past. She picked up the wallet and proceeded to the clinic to have her sugar and blood pressure checked.
All the while she was thinking of the wallet she found, until she gathered enough courage to check its contents. She found a name card with the name Isaac Lam written on it, along with a contact number. She called up the number, and asked the man who answered if he happened to have lost his wallet. Lam reportedly said he did lose his wallet two days earlier. They agreed to meet at the MTR station in Admiralty, where Lam insisted on giving her $300 as reward even if she refused a couple of times.