A “yaya” (nanny) ad recently went viral over the requirement for university diploma and teaching experience! And while the salary is certainly quite good (nearly 3x) the standard rate, many netizens still think it’s degrading to college graduates…

What do you think?

University Diploma and Teaching Experience for “Yaya”

Being a “yaya” or nanny in the Philippines isn’t exactly considered a good job. After all, the pay is quite low and many aren’t even treated well.

Although most get free food and accommodation, many aren’t provided enough meals – and a lot don’t have the same food that their ward/s or employers eat.

Also, the nannies are usually on-call nearly 24/7, and they aren’t paid for the overtime hours they spend taking care of their ward.

Recently, there’s a nanny ad that has gone viral on Reddit. It’s reminiscent of the “yaya” ad post that required the nanny to have extremely high beauty standards.

In this new viral ad, the family offers a salary of Php15,000 to their prospective nanny. Now, that’s actually a great thing (for this part, at least)! The post declares that the nanny will work in Makati, so this isn’t an OFW posting for work abroad.

The post also declared that the nanny will be given free food and will have two days off a month.

What irked netizens is that the yaya is required to have a college degree and teaching experience! This person is supposed to be responsible for the education of a 5-year-old.

At this rate, the salary is actually good, yet many netizens felt that it was “degrading” to college graduates who are supposed to find a job within their career path.

“Why in the world would anyone need a university degree to be a yaya? It’s basically babysitting. These people who want university degrees and only give 2 days off a month amaze me with their entitlement,” one netizen commented.

“This is basically a live-in job, like you’re on-call 24-7. They have no control over their time. At least blue collar workers can get away from their job after 5pm and actually go back to their families,” another wrote.

What’s the Minimum Wage in NCR?

According to the National Wages and Productivity Commission of the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), the minimum wage for domestic workers in the NCR (National Capital Region) is Php6,000 per month.

Meanwhile, workers in the Non-Agriculture sectors have a minimum wage rate of Php570 per day, and the other sectors at Php533.

Two Pinays join in breaking the Guinness World Record for Multilingual Reading – and they received recognition for helping the international team achieve this feat.

Isn’t that wonderful?

Pinays Help in Breaking the Guinness World Record

We are all in awe of people who are able to break world records, particularly when the feat is recognized by the experts in the field – the Guinness World Records.

Filipinas Maria Corazon Cabrera and Janine Cabrera Mendoza (Maria’s daughter), participated in the multilingual reading aloud relay broke the Guinness World Record for Multilingual Reading last February 26, 2023 at the Bib Sophia library in Schaerbeek, Brussels.

The new world record was achieved by the international team by doing the relay with 65 languages, with the team comprised of children and parents from different schools in the community.

They broke the previous record held by the Museum of Islamic Culture in Qatar for reading in 55 languages.

To ensure that the new world record for “most languages used in a reading relay” is authentic and official, the event was judged by a jury of experts, including professional translators from the European institutions as well as professors and staff from the universities of Ghent, Brussels, Louvain-la-Neuve, and Antwerp.

For this event, participants were tasked to read one sentence from “Mister René,” a book written by Leo Timmers about the Belgian painter Rene Magritte.

In the reading relay, the participants had to read in these different languages, with just a maximum of 10 seconds of waiting time in between.

Aside from Filipino, languages used to read the line from the book include Welsh, Hebrew, Swahili, Akkadian, and Urdu.

It was another Filipina, Ms. Maria Alicia Reyes Amarga, who attested to the correctness of the Filipino translation that the Cabreras read during the event.

“We share this achievement with all Filipinos. We should be proud of our language and culture,” the elder Cabrera said.

How Many Languages are There in the Philippines

The Philippines is a very diverse country, with as many as 120 spoken languages.

A Russian stuck in PH had resorted to selling bottled water after losing valuables, including his passport, to a Pinay he met before his flight.

Russian Stuck in PH Sells Bottled Water

Millions of tourists visit the Philippines each year. Sadly, many of them lose valuables, including important documents like passports and ATMs, to locals who have bad intentions.

One of them is Igorevich Vladislav Saulev, a 43-year-old Russian national from St. Petersburg.

His situation went viral after a concerned citizen, John Carlo Villaruel, shared about on Facebook via Cebu Daily News Online last March 7, 2023.

According to Villaruel, he met Saulev in downtown Cebu. He was surprised to see the foreigner selling watered bottles in the streets with a placard around his neck, asking for help because he lost his passport.

It turned out that the Russian had met a woman before his flight. He had taken up residence in a town in southern Cebu and had arrived at the city at 2AM on February 25.

He met a woman on one of the city’s streets. They ended up spending a few hours together before returning to the spot at around 10PM.

While riding a taxi together, the woman asked the driver to stop – but she quickly grabbed Saulev’s backpack as she got out of the cab. It contained all his valuables.

With no money, phone, or anything, he ended up living on the streets. The vendors in the area took pity on him after noticing him wandering around.

Although though gave him money for food at first, they also have limited funds. That’s why they invited him to sell water for commission – and that’s how he met Villaruel.

Thanks to the kindhearted vendors, he was able to survive in the streets. And thanks to Villaruel, his plight went viral and he’s now receiving help from netizens and the authorities so he can go back home.

How to Avoid Losing All Valuables & Documents While Traveling

Everywhere you go, there’s a chance of losing your stuff because some people have made a living out of taking valuables from other people.

Here are some tips to avoid losing all your valuables:

• Buy anti-theft bags or packs that prevent people from slashing your bag to get your valuables
• Separate your documents and valuables so you can have a backup when you lose something
• Don’t bring a lot of cash; online banking and other digital options are now readily available as your backup