Joy Ganado had tried to explain the situation to her children, then 3 and 6 years-old: that she and her husband, who already worked overseas, would be moving to Australia. The kids would be left in the care of their grandparents.
"But they just didn't take it seriously, they thought that maybe we were kidding," she says.
Faced with the task of pulling herself away from them, and the potential trauma it would cause, she made a difficult choice.
"One night we just suddenly left them while they were asleep," says Ganado. "The very first thing we did when we were here in Australia was to call them ... And they just couldn't believe it."
"My little girl was like: 'Mum, is it true? Where are you?'"
Her son refused to talk to her, asking to speak with his father instead.
"I could hear them and it just breaks my heart when my son would say, 'Dad, can I scold you? Why did you need to bring mum with you? We were asleep and you just sneak out ... and when we wake up you're all gone and now mum is telling us you're miles away from us.'"
'Mum, is it true? Where are you?'
The decision to leave her kids behind was a heartbreaking - but necessary - decision, Ganado felt.
While they were stable, she says their financial situation wasn't enough to fulfil the dreams she had for her kids' future and her own career.
The pull of a good exchange rate, and academic and employment opportunities in Australia, was strong. The average monthly wage in the Philippines is the equivalent of around $285 AUD, while in Australia it is $2,300.
"We decided that we wanted a better future for them," Ganado says. "I have my goals, I have my plans, I need to give them a better life ... better than mine, better than what I've grown up [with]."
"I would just have to take responsibility for it."
In the Philippines, her choice is also not unusual.
"It's very common," she says, explaining that many Filipinos travel abroad in search for work, particularly women looking for domestic help employment.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in 2015 there were 2.5 million Filipinos working overseas. Of those overseas workers, 50.1 per cent were women - and 29.5 per cent of them were between the ages of 25 and 29 years old.
Dr Anne Sved Williams is a psychiatrist specialising in parenthood and pediatrics. On this week's Insight, looking at why some mothers choose to leave their children, she points out that motherhood can be quite different in other cultures.
"In many other cultures ... there is an expectation that extended family should be involved," she says, explaining that the biological mother is not always fully relied upon to do all the parenting.
"What children need is one person at least who keeps them in mind and they need some peace and harmony in the house to bring them up," says Williams. "So it doesn't have to be the mother; it can be a great father or a great grandparent."
Ganado says that when she talks to her parents now about the kids joining them in Australia, they're reluctant to see them go.
What children need is one person at least who keeps them in mind ... it doesn't have to be the mother; it can be a great father or a great grandparent.
Since she left five years ago, Ganado has only been back twice. It is hard for her to leave them all over again.
But they speak often on Skype - too often, sometimes, according to her children.
"They just get bored!" she says. "I mean, for the first few months they were very keen to speak with us but now it seems like they would just go, 'Mum, could we actually hang up because I'm busy?'"
While Ganado is happy the kids are enjoying life with their grandparents, she finds this new development troubling.
"I just feel like they're drifting away from me," she says.
After five years, however, arrangements have finally been made for the children to join them in Australia this year.
Insight looks at what drives some mothers to leave their children, exploring the reasons and consequences behind this great parenting taboo | Catch up online now:
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