A Good Deed Is Never Forgotten

About two years ago, Filipino cab driver Nestor Sulpico made headlines when he reunited a bag of valuable pearls with its amnesic owner after he found them on the back seat of his cab. I was pleasantly surprised when his picture and story turned up again on the Sunday issue (July 16) of the Daily News. This article was written by Jose Martinez for the "Whatever Happened To...?" section of the paper.

"One very good deed helped change the life of the cabbie hailed as "New York's most honest taxi driver". When Nestor Sulpico returned $70,000 of rare South Pacific black pearls to a forgetful rider who left them in his cab, he used his $5,000 reward to fund his daughter's nursing education in their native Philippines.
He showed up on the front page of Daily News and was saluted by Mayor Bloomberg. He also was transformed into a celebrity back home, where he was honored by the government and given a $3,000 gift by the country's President.
"I'm just a regular person doing a regular thing," Sulpico said. "But I was - what do you call it - lionized back there in the Philippines."
Now driving a Lincoln Town Car, and occasionally getting behind the wheel of his yellow cab, Sulpico said he regularly finds wallets and mobile phones left behind in the backseat.
And just as he did on July 14, 2004 - when he returned the pearls to hedge-fund manager Lawrence Policastro - he tries to track down the owner of the misplaced phone or wallet.
"I can't really keep anything that is not mine," Sulpico said. "I'm used to working hard and not earning money easily."
Sulpico, 49, had been driving a cab for less than a month when he made his biggest backseat find. Using a cell phone left in the cab, he dialed Policastro's home to report he had the pearls.
Then he drove up to Rowayton, Conn., to return the pearls to Policastro, who threw his arms around the humble hack, proclaimed, "I love cabbies," and promised a generous reward.
For months after his good deed, Sulpico was recognized by the people he was driving around the city. He turned up on television news shows that aired all over the country, and was honored by Taxi and Limousine Commission chief Matthew Daus.
Sulpico also was awarded a scholarship to the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing. He starts classes this fall.
"Finding those pearls was my passport to a better life," Sulpico said.
But the Queens cabbie said he is not planning to give up hacking even after he starts nursing school.
"I like New York, and it just fascinates me to meet all kinds of people," he said. "That's what keeps me going."

Ilonggo Ini!!