Non omne quod nitet aurum est is the Latin phrase for
'Not all that shines is gold!' The proverb was used by Chaucer, by Cervantes in 'Don Quixote' and by Shakespeare in 'The Merchant of Venice'.
That proverb could have been used many centuries ago but today's post will once again prove the timeless and enduring truth of the adage.
The phrase simply means: just because something may look valuable, desirable or attractive, doesn't mean that it will definitely be worth having once you discover its true value or nature.
One of the elements that I will not forget in my high school chemistry is
Au. I would always remember my teacher's story that
Au came from the Latin word
aurum meaning 'shining dawn'.
Her name is not Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn which links the the warm, yellow color of gold and where the
Au symbol of gold came from. But she is
The Gal Behind the 'Golden Fleece'.
(Click the link later after reading the whole post).I felt for her children, for her husband, for her families and friends and for the many Filipinos who are building up the image of the OFWs and the Philippines. How easy it is for some to destroy the reputation of the Pinoy Expats and OFW abroad fin exchange for the glitter of gold! (in the literal sense of the word). It's really a shame but this has to be posted especially as a reminder for us OFWs who may be trusted with similar responsibilities.
I really deliberated many times today on whether to post this or not because I know this will spoil the excitement going on around in
KaBLOGgywood for the
2009 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards. Everyone's anticipating with enthusiasm the 2nd PEBA Season's
Hope of the Nation, Gift to the World Awarding Ceremony on the 27th of December 2009. So during those time of contemplation I just went to enjoy the music and video at
Jee's Wit's Expression - Lipad Ng Pangarap that made me feel proud again to see the Philippine flag wave confidently beneath the azure skies.
Have a look at the story of the
Woman Charged With Using Handbag to Steal $12M in Gold. She is the same
Woman accused of taking 500 pounds of gold from job.
(As advised earlier, click the links only after reading the whole story)This is a sad and shameful story ---
NEW YORK—Prosecutors said a Filipina stole $12 million in gold from the jewelry company she worked for, squirreling it away in the lining of her purse over six years. Teresa Perez Tambunting, 50, a vault manager at Jacamel Jewelry in Queens , has been charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. The company discovered in January that nearly $12 million in merchandise was missing.
Prosecutors said the thefts occurred from 2004 until Tuesday, and that a search of Tambunting's Scarsdale home turned up 450 pounds of gold. Tambunting was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail. Tambunting was a member of the 1977 high school class at the St. Theresa's College Manila. The other members of that class include journalist Patricia Adversario and doctors Concepcion Cruz Vesagas and Donna de Padua Dolores.
The New York Daily News reported that Tambunting had told relatives at a Christmas dinner that she was terrified of the recession, even though police this week found $12 million worth of gold and jewelry in her basement. She and her husband Edgardo, a director at Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company, had complained that 2008 hit them hard. The couple migrated to the US in 1991.
I was there at Christmas. They were saying this was one of their worst years, but this year is [going to be] much better, the Daily News quoted their nephew, Gregorio Perez, 28, as saying. Despite this optimism, Perez said, they were afraid the Wall Street turmoil would force Edgardo to change jobs. This recession is hurting everybody. I know they hit20a rough patch, Perez said. Teresa was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, he said.
All the while, Teresa, her husband and their three teenage kids were sitting on a treasure trove of raw gold and jewelry that Mom hoarded in 5-gallon buckets in the basement of her home, prosecutors said. Perez told the Daily News he had memories of playing in that basement 10 years ago—when the only things stashed there were toys and power tools. We used to go over there a lot, Perez was quoted as saying. They welcomed us in, any time we needed. She was always a generous aunt to us, me and my sister and brother.
Tambunting, the vault manager since 1991, started working at Jacmel Jewelry shortly after its formation in 1977, and most recently earned $165,000 a year, police sources told the Daily News. Soon after the audit, Tambunting came to work dragging 80 pounds of fine gold and jewelry in a rolling suitcase—confessing to one of her bosses that she had to steal it, the Daily News reported. The rest of the stash was returned to the company from her home, said Jack Rahmey, Jacmel president.
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Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli
A larcenous longtime employee of a major Queens jewelry manufacturer walked off with a staggering 500 pounds of gold she smuggled out piece by piece over six years -- in her handbag, prosecutors said yesterday.
Teresa Tambunting, 50, of Scarsdale , sneaked the hoard out of a Long Island City vault by stashing "a few ounces" at a time in a false bottom she created in the lining of her pocketbook, authorities said. "I am a very sick woman. I took the gold," she told her stunned bosses once the jig was up, according to sources.Officials at Jacmel Jewelry caught on that they were being bled dry after doing an internal audit in January and noticing they were missing as much as $12 million worth of gold, which now trades for around $900 an ounce. "The defendant is accused of establishing a virtual mining operation in Long Island City which siphoned off millions of dollars' worth of the precious metal," said Queens District Attorney Ric hard Brown.
Tambunting had worked for Jacmel for 28 years, joining the company shortly after emigrating from the Philippines , and had been made a vault manager in 1991. She was paid $160,000 a year and was one of only a handful of "highly trusted" employees who had access to the company's safe, sources said. But even those people were subject to searches by security -- which Tambunting got around with the makeshift hole in a beaten-up black leather, banana-shaped purse she carried for years.. A few days after company officials started going over their books to see if they had made an accounting error, Tambunting walked into work wheeling a piece of luggage containing 60 pounds of "fine gold" -- or buck-shot-sized pellets of unrefined precious metal.
When asked if that was all she had taken, she said yes, but days later, she changed her tune and came in with her lawyer --and a couple of dozen five-gallon paint buckets filled with 447.8 pounds of gold necklaces, rings, earrings and other jewelry. There was enough gold to fill 12 large storage bins. The size of Tambunting's haul stunned employees.
"When they walked in the first time, they were shocked and their jaws dropped," a source said. "When she came back three weeks later, their jaws dropped even heavier.." The stash took company officials nearly three weeks to inventory. During that period, they discovered some pieces that dated back to early 2004. Then they went to the DA. In all, the value of the returned gold is roughly $7.3 million, meaning $4.7 million remains missing. Some of that, sources said, could have been lost in routine manufacturing processes. They said Tambunting and her husband, Edgardo, a director at Cantor Fitzgerald, appeared to be living within their means, but probers were still investigating their finances.
The couple lives with their three children in a million-dollar home. Jacmel Jewelry President Jack Rahmey called Tambunting "a longtime employee and a trusted one," but declined to comment any further. She was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail.. She faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.. Her lawyer did not return messages.