CEBU CITY – Motorists passing through the South Road Properties (SRP) here got the shock of their lives when they saw huge wads of cash scattered on the ground on Tuesday morning, July 4.
MOTORISTS pick up cash scattered on the ground in Cebu City on Tuesday, July 4. (Photo via Calvin Cordova) The money bills came from the bag of a collector of a money remittance company who came from a mall at SRP for a round of collection. John Mark Barrientos, 26, said the wads of cash were placed inside a backpack but he didn’t notice that its zipper got busted that caused the money bills to spill over the busy highway. Barrientos was driving a motorcycle at the time. “I noticed the bills scattered on the road when I was already 50 meters from where the cash started flying out of the bag. I saw the money flying through the side mirror of my motorcycle,” said Barrientos. Barrientos hurriedly got off the motorcycle to pick the bills. Some motorists also stopped and scampered to pick up the bills scattered all over the road. Unfortunately, some of the motorists drove off after picking up some bills. A businessman, who asked not to be named, also came to stop and help pick up the money. The businessman handed over at least P13,000 to Barrientos. Barrientos said at least P700,000 cash was left in the bag.
JOHN Mark Barrientos shows the bag where at least P4 million cash was kept. The bag was busted and money was spilled while Barrientos was driving on the South Road Properties on Tuesday morning, July 4. (Photo via Calvin D. Cordova) The collector reported the incident to the Mambaling Police Station. Some people showed up at the police station and returned the money that they got from the road. According to Barrientos, there were 20 to 30 people who stopped to pick money bills. At least P1.3 million was returned by various individuals at the Mambaling police precinct. Some P2 million was still missing, Barrientos said. Barrientos said he did not expect that the zipper of the bag would be busted as it was sent to him by his company just last month. He was hired by the company 10 months ago. He said he would usually drive a motorcycle so he could easily transport the money to their office in Mandaue City. Barrientos said he was carrying a huge amount of money at the time as most companies had just their payday. “I hope the missing money will be returned. I have no money to refund it if the company tells me to do so,” he said. Police Major Jonathan Bethooven Taneo, chief of the Mambaling police, said they will review the security camera footage to possibly identify the people who stopped by and picked up some cash.