Female Filipino senior citizen, Nancy Leticia, has resorted to working as an Uber driver to earn a living.
Many imagine their senior citizen mothers lounging back, enjoying their twilight years in comfort and excessively doting on their grandkids. However, this is not the case for 63-year-old Filipino Nancy Leticia, who has resorted to working as an Uber driver in the Philippines, despite being of retirement age.
Chairman of the Philippines’ Toyota Auto Club, Francis Samonte, was recently driven by Leticia and told the heartbreaking tale on his Facebook,
“Upon finishing my medical checkup at the Manila Doctors Hospital, I decided to avail the service of an Uber. When I looked at the app, I saw that an elderly woman named Leticia was the driver. I first thought maybe it was just the photograph, but when I got into the vehicle, it was indeed a woman of retirement age already (63).”
Samonte said the he told the elderly driver that she should be retired already, but Leticia said that she was not able to stop driving because she had no savings. The senior citizen had started out as a UV Express driver, but was made redundant after her van was sold. She is also finding driving for Uber a tough job after receiving repeat cancellations due to riders being dissuaded after seeing her profile. Whatsmore, the car she drives isn’t hers, so she does not earn the full amount from her job.
Samonte was deeply moved after talking to the senior citizen,
“It’s sad that many of the elderly people in our country still have to work to survive, and it’s even more disappointing that young and abled people are still dependent on them. I missed my mom. Most mothers like Nanay Leticia would do anything for their children, just for the latter to survive.”
Samonte gave Leticia a bonus, which she only accepted after the Toyota chairman insisted. Leticia was teary-eyed upon accepting the bonus.
Leticia would like a more stable driving job so that she can support her two sons – one of which is unemployed, whilst the other works for the Central Bank.
Samonte gave Leticia a five star rating.
