I decided to let go of yaya yesterday after catching her with her MMDA boyfriend last April 7.

On April 7, yaya asked for permission to go downstairs to buy snacks from MiniStop. This is not unusual for her so we allowed it. She went down at 12:30am.

At 1:00am, I was puzzled on why she hasn’t returned. I had a package in the lobby that I asked the guard to give to her so I found it weird that the package was not brought up yet. When I called the guard, he said she has yet to return.

Alarm bells were ringing then. What happened to her?

I went downstairs to look for her. The lobby guards pointed me to the direction she went to. Since I live in a business district, I looked for her at the nearby convenience store. She wasn’t anywhere!

I asked at the 7-Eleven staff close to our place if he saw yaya. He pointed me to the closed section of 7-Eleven on the second floor. I found yaya’s boyfriend sitting, while yaya hiding on the corner behind the chairs and tables.

Yaya and I went home.

When I asked her why she lied about going to Ministop and instead was meeting up with her boyfriend, she said, “It’s only this one time.”

It Actually Wasn’t the First Time

It was her second.

Last February, our yaya also sneaked out from our condo in the guise of going to MiniStop to buy load. On her way out, she told her BFF guard that in case we looked for her, to tell us that she is back in her room.

She was gone for 2.5 hours.

Another guard told us that he saw her riding her boyfriend’s bike close to our home. She insisted that she was only at 7-Eleven hanging out.

At that time, she was apologetic that she didn’t inform us properly where she went. “I promise I didn’t go out in a motorcycle,” she said. “While it was true that I was out for so long, I was only at 7-Eleven relaxing and thinking about my problems.”

Yes, the same 7-Eleven where I spotted her with her boyfriend the other day.

That’s not the only problem — when faced with the incident report, initially yaya denied it. She said that she wasn’t gone for that long. She was only gone for a short time, and she was reported falsely by the guard who had a crush on her.

However, after I told her that there was CCTV cameras recording, and if indeed the guard was lying, then we would fire him, that she recanted and reluctantly admitted that she was maybe gone for as long as reported.

So this was the second time she lied on top of the many white lies she made over the last few months. And this was our yaya, the woman we trust with our daughter. Who cannot help but sneak behind our back and constantly lie about her romance.

What’s worse, the man she is seeing doesn’t seem to dissuade her. I saw him the other night with her in uniform. He was on duty and he was on a date.

A man who doesn’t value his work is not a good influence. Who knows? He may be dating yaya to get to our daughter!

So we decided to let Yaya go.

It was a conversation I hated to make, but had to. And my heart was sad as I told her that I could not tolerate her many repeated lies, as my family do not tolerate liars in our household. And while she is efficient to her work, I do not like the fact that she lies without guilt, remorse or consideration.

If you were caught once, stop.

Our yaya had the gall to get caught, then do it again another time.

“This won’t be her last time,” my uncle warned. “This is already her sickness. She cannot stop lying.”

It doesn’t make it easier. This was someone we shared our home with for 1.5 years. Someone who saw us in our best and worst. Someone who have seen our daughter grow.

After our conversation, she packed all her clothes. There were 6 bags in all. How different was it when she first started when she didn’t even have shoes to wear, and her children were getting kicked out from their home because of rent non-payment.

I gave her what I could — some makeup, a small sack of rice, books for her daughter who recently celebrated her birthday.

“I will call a taxi because I have a lot of things,” she said.

I gave her Php 500 for the taxi, not because I felt guilty, but rather, a consideration for all the stuff she had to bring with her.

As she left, she hugged and kissed my daughter. “Be good and listen to your mother,” she said.

She then went out to call a taxi. I asked her if she wanted to join us for dinner but she declined. “I don’t want to get home late,” she said.

My daughter and I ate dinner then worked at the office.

Almost 3 hours later, we came back.

We saw her stuff still in our condominium lobby, and her coming back. Apparently, instead of calling a taxi, she went to the mall and had a date with her boyfriend. When the mall closed, she came back, towing her boyfriend who will take her someplace else.

I feel a bit vindicated for booting her out. Up to the very last end, she still lied. She didn’t call a taxi. She went out for a date with her boyfriend. I think I feel more sad about her departure than her.

The next day, I found out that the boyfriend was apparently married with a pregnant wife.

This was after she chided our driver for going after a woman despite having a wife who was pregnant last year. “I would never do what she did,” she said about the mistress. “May asawa pa, pinatulan pa!” (Even with a wife, she would still go for him).

Lies, lies and even more lies.

So yes, maybe it’s time for her to go. The Lord truly has been watching over us. I thank my lucky stars I caught her and her boyfriend, and while it’s burdensome to take care of our child, well… that’s our role anyway as parents.

Hope you have a good week ahead!