Filipinos Being Helpful

[Mr Lee]

I did not get a chance to write this sooner and before leaving Cebu, and because of our vacation to Mindanao from Cebu, and company etc, so here is a prime example of one great Filipino going out of his way to help a foreigner, and another few being very helpful for the same reason. In mid April some internet friends of ours Steve and Myrlita from Bacolod Philippines (some of you may know them from another forum) came to Cebu to meet us in person because we had been speaking on the phone and going back and forth in emails, and have thus become good friends, so once they got to Cebu, we went out and ran around. One day they came to visit us at our condo and as he got out of the taxi and somehow he dropped his wallet or it fell out of his pocket and the taxi left before he could stop him. Our friend Angelo and another salesman from our condo development happened to be standing there when I got down because of the call Steve made to me telling me what happened and that he was downstairs. Angelo jumped into action and the other salesman who did not know me started making suggestions and were both very helpful, and then Angelo started making calls to the LTO to try to find the owner of the taxi, as we went into the admin office at the other salesman's suggestion to review the video to make sure to get the correct taxis number, since the guard had written down a few taxi numbers as they left about the same time, so we had to narrow it down. Anyway to make a long story short, Angelo tracked down the taxi and called the company and Steve offered a reward to the taxi driver at my suggestion for his wallet which contained a lot of papers, his acr card and bank cards but no real money, and of course money talks and the wallet was returned the next day to Steve intact with nothing touched. Now I cannot say how it might have turned out had he not offered the reward, but Angelo had gotten into another taxi with Steve at his own volition and took Steve to that taxis office which resulted in the eventual return of the wallet by the driver the next day when he turned the taxi in. I also have to say that all the guards were very helpful, and that the people in the office and staff for the condo were extremely helpful and spent a lot of time running through the tapes back and forth because like anything in the Philippines, the time clock was off, so we had to watch a lot of tape forwards and then backwards until we were sure we had the correct taxi. All went above and beyond but Angelo who we have more or less adopted into our family because he is such a great person, went way above and beyond by leaving our development in the other taxi with Steve, thus taking a chance of losing a customer for a sale or rental, and spent a lot of time with Steve translating and instructing the taxi where to go, so there are many great Filipinos and IMO we should latch onto those who are the best of the best and help them out whenever possible, and that is what my wife and I did with Angelo and quite a few others we have had the good fortune to become close friends with.

[Jake]

Thank you Kuya for this uplifting story. I believe anyone in any country can be a good Samaritan if you just simply smile and greet them daily with some respect. The "typical" man on the street (guards, tricycle and jeepney drivers), even the vendor on the corner can be your friend, at least be your eyes and ears for you and your family. A simple gesture of giving them your leftover pizza, a cold bottle of water or just a friendly hello "how's your family" wouldsend messages on the street that your are friendly and respectful, but at the same time will not take any bull chit.Respectfully -- Jake

[Mr Lee]

Thank you Kuya for this uplifting story. I believe anyone in any country can be a good Samaritan if you just simply smile and greet them daily with some respect. The "typical" man on the street (guards, tricycle and jeepney drivers), even the vendor on the corner can be your friend, at least be your eyes and ears for you and your family. A simple gesture of giving them your leftover pizza, a cold bottle of water or just a friendly hello "how's your family" wouldsend messages on the street that your are friendly and respectful, but at the same time will not take any bull chit.Respectfully -- Jake

Yes Jake you are correct and maybe that is why many seem to like me in our building and often go out of their way to even smile and say hi to my wife and I just about every time we arrive back in the complex. My wife and I will sometimes bring fried bananas or sometimes McDo hamburgers back for the guards as we walk back to our complex if we are bringing food home for ourselves, and I have given coffee to one guard who works regularly in our lobby because he often works 24 hour shifts, so my wife makes some coffee and I bring it down to him for the night, to help keep him awake. I also provided a fan for the guards in our building because it is very often sweltering hot inside the lobby due to lack of circulation since there is no exit for the air to go out even with the front doors open. Being nice is something we all should do because IMO we all probably have much more than the average workman and I have gone out drinking with the guards on a few occasions and I usually pick up a few rounds because they often buy the first grade and glasses to share and I know they cannot afford to do that in the first place, but it is just their hospitality and their wishes to have me sitting and drinking with them, that seems to be all they wish for and maybe a need to repay my kindness at times.