This is the chaotic moment frenzied motorists scrambled to pick up bundles of cash when bank notes worth 72,000 USD blew from a security guard's bag.

The banknotes came from a cash-in-transit collector's backpack when it broke on the Cebu South Coastal Road flyover in Cebu province, the Philippines on July 4.

Hapless money guard John Mark Barrientos, 26, said he was returning to his employers at a remittance centre following a round of collections totalling around four million PHP (around 72,000 USD) that morning.

He said he was on his motorcycle - the money-stuffed bag strapped onto his back - but when he looked at the side mirror, he was shocked to find the bills flying behind him at around 10 am local time.

He said: 'I was confused because when I looked at the side mirror, there were no other vehicles, but there was money flying around. I stopped and found that my bag had burst, so I made a U-turn to get the fallen money.

'I even tried blocking the other cars with my motorcycle, but I couldn't approach since there were already so many people there.'

He said kind motorists stopped to help him retrieve the banknotes, but others chose to make off with the stolen cash.

Speaking through tears, John is heard in the video talking to his boss over the phone, saying: 'The bag broke. The cash was taken by other people. The money is gone, they took it.

Authorities said that as of Wednesday, July 5, just 50,000 PHP (900 USD) had been turned over at the Mambaling Police Station.

Mambaling police chief Major Jonathan Taneo said: 'The collector has identified personalities and we will ask them to please return the money.

'We won't file charges yet because there is no complaint yet, but we will try to retrace the money.'

Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, City Director of the Cebu City Police Office, added: 'We will investigate so that we can identify the owners of the vehicles. There are faces that can be seen there, we can see them on the video that was uploaded.

'Whoever you are, if you are there on the video and you did not volunteer to return the money that you picked up, please return it to help the person who lost the money.'

John said around 2 million PHP (36,000 USD) is yet to be recovered.

He said: 'The people were merciless. I even knelt in front of them. I told them: 'Don't touch the money, it isn't mine!', but there was no effect. They continued to pick it up.

'I hope the missing money will be returned. I have no money to refund it. I'm just a worker trying to make a living.'

Meanwhile, John's supervisor, who declined to be named, said the company's collectors used motorcycles 'to skirt around traffic in the city' and speed up the collection rounds.

He said: 'Armoured vehicles are safe, but on our side, travel is quicker on a motorcycle. There are many turns on the road that armoured cars can't manoeuvre easily.'

He added that following the incident, the company will be implementing safety measures to protect its riders.