GMA honors 12-year-old girl, Manila cop for honesty

A grade school student and a veteran policeman were honored yesterday by President Arroyo for their exemplary honesty that has inspired both young and old.

Twelve-year-old Cristina "Tinay" Bugayong and Senior Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr. of the Manila Police District, who both returned hundreds of thousands of pesos they found on separate occasions recently, were special guests at Malacañang yesterday.

"I am proud of you," the President told her guests at the Music Room of Malacañang where she received them.

Bugayong also got a special reward from Mrs. Arroyo, a job for her father Cesar, and a ride in the presidential limousine to the nearby Presidential Action Center (PACE) inside the Palace grounds.

Bugayong’s mother, Luzviminda, accompanied her daughter and said her husband used to be a seaman but has been jobless for the past eight years.

The girl said she personally asked the President to help her father find a job.

Acting on the girl’s appeal, the President directed PACE to check with the jobs online system of the Department of Labor and Employment about the availability of a job for the elder Bugayong.

"We will help him out by using the facilities of PACE now so that we can make sure that Cristina is rewarded with her father getting a job," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Bugayong said she was happy and grateful for the commendation and the fact that the President considered her to be a role model for the youth.

"I am glad that the President will give my father a job, too," the girl said.

The girl returned to Techpoint Computer Corp. the P300,000 in cash and checks she had found while playing with her friends on T. Gener street in Barangay Kamuning, Quezon City last Wednesday night.

The President also congratulated the girl’s parents for raising their children well.

Bugayong, a sixth-grader from Tomas Morato Elementary School, will receive a computer set from Techpoint and a two-year college scholarship from STI College.

The Quezon City government, through Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., gave her a plaque of recognition and offered educational assistance. The National Union of Bank Employees is also setting up a special fund to help the girl and her family.

The Department of Education likewise praised Bugayong and called on young people to emulate her.

Arevalo, on the other hand, was cited for returning more than P150,000 worth of cash and valuables to a businessman who dropped them at the corner of United Nations Avenue and Ma. Orosa street in Manila on Dec. 30.

Arevalo, homicide chief of the WPD, said it was the fifth time that he returned money, valuables and other documents he had found while on the job.

He did not accept any reward from the owners, he added.