‘Stranded’ helper gets job hours after online plea

MANILA, Philippines — Job offers came flooding in for a household helper who had been stranded in a Quezon City bus terminal after her ordeal went online.

Several social media users, whether in Facebook comments and private messages to this reporter, have expressed their willingness to hire Carmen Pepito Dela Cruz, 53, after her failed job hunt — which led her to resort to sleeping on streets — came to light. 

Dela Cruz said two people approached her in the Victory Liner bus terminal in Cubao to hire her on the spot after reading her story published in the Inquirer.

READ: After failed job hunts, 53-year-old helper ‘stranded’ at QC terminal

However, dela Cruz said she had to beg off from their offers as she already made a commitment to an employer from La Union who already hired her immediately — only around three hours after the story was published.

“Someone approached me, a woman, then she asked me, ‘Are you the one I saw in the news?’ She showed me my picture. I said that was me,” dela Cruz told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Monday night.

“She said she will hire me immediately, but I told her ‘Ma’am, sorry, an employer already approached me, I will go to La Union already’,” she also recalled.

Dela Cruz already arrived in La Union on Tuesday morning and was hired at once.

“She’s hired, but she’s only resting for today,” the employer, who requested anonymity, told Inquirer in a text message on Tuesday.

“But it seems like she’s ready to work already because she’s very active,” she also said. “We talked to her first and she was crying when she told us her story. She seems comfortable here now.”

According to the employer, dela Cruz’s task involves taking care of their parents, who are both in their 80s.

Other heavier tasks like laundry will be taken care of by their other helper, the employer said, while the cooking is usually done by the children of the octogenarian couple.

The employer will also provide the lodging with “basic pay with benefits.”

The 53-year-old was very grateful for the employment despite her age, which she said is already past the 50-year-old limit set by manpower agencies hiring helpers. 

“I would like to thank them for hiring me despite my age,” she said. “I am still strong and fit to work.” /das