THANKS TO FACEBOOK

The other night as I was going over the news feed on Facebook, I saw the picture of an old woman who was searching for her lost husband. That picture was taken by a good samaritan who uploaded it on Facebook in his desire to help the old lady find her husband.

This lola had been searching for her husband who left their house two weeks ago and had since then never returned. She pasted the picture of her husband on her back and for the past two weeks would leave their house at 5:00 a.m. and start looking for him. She would go home for a quick lunch then go out again until late in the evening hoping to find him. She would ask people on the street if they saw her husband.

A kind soul saw the old woman sitting on the street and took her picture which he then uploaded on Facebook together with her story.

An ABS-CBN reporter saw the post on Facebook and went to the old woman's house yesterday morning to fetch her and bring her to DZMM at ABS-CBN where she was asked to narrate her story. She was also asked by the news anchors of the program to send her plea on air hoping that if there was anyone who has seen her husband, he or she may get in touch with the family or the station thru the contact numbers given.

Last night it was reported on TV Patrol that the woman was reunited with her husband because someone heard her plea on Teleradyo and called the station to inform them of the whereabouts of her husband. A DZMM reporter went to the place and brought the old man home. This morning the couple went back to the station to thank them for their help. She also thanked the guy who uploaded her picture on Facebook.

That is one of the wonders of social networking sites. People get to react quickly to situations like these.

And to think that just recently, the CEO of Facebook sent a warning to Filipinos that we would lose access to this site because of the proliferation of pornographic materials being uploaded which allegedly originated from the Philippines.

I hope Mr. Mark Zuckerberg gets to know about this incident and how an old couple were reunited thanks to Facebook.

It only goes to show that Filipinos do not only allegedly use Facebook to spread pornographic materials. They also use this to help those in need. After all we are a compassionate people.