Waiting for a future: Woman, 53, sleeps in Manila bus terminal, hoping for one chance at work

Manila: For days now, a 53-year-old woman has quietly waited at the Victory Liner Terminal in Quezon City — not for a ride home, but for something far more uncertain: a job.

“I am just here to look for a job as a house helper,” Carmen Pepito dela Cruz said, told the Inquirer.

She arrived in Manila late last month from Iligan City, chasing the hope of employment.

Since then, she has searched across Baguio City, Olongapo City, and Makati— but each stop has led to the same answer: nothing.

For the past two nights, the terminal in Cubao has become her shelter.

With no place to go, she has slept on its benches, relying on the quiet kindness of strangers.

“One time, someone gave me siopao and water,” she told the Manila daily. “Also, the people here in Victory aren’t strict; they did not ask me to leave.”

Her story reflects a deeper struggle.

Surveys like those from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) show that nearly 70% of Filipinos now find job hunting difficult — a reality dela Cruz is living, step by step, city by city.

The home she once knew is gone. Her parents are no longer there.

Going back is not an option: Hindi na ako uuwi sa Mindanao, ano pang gagawin ko doon, mahirap ang buhay doon (I'm not going back to Mindanao, what else would I do there? life is hard there)," she told the paper.

So she stays — waiting, watching each arriving bus, not for a destination, but for the possibility that somewhere, someone might finally say yes.