Luis And Aurelia: Reunited

Thanks to the power of social networking sites and the still existing compassion for the elders, tens of thousands of sympathetic Facebook users helped reunite a grandmother with her 78-year-old husband who went missing for two weeks. The story of Lola Aurelia Matias and how she was reunited with her husband, Lolo Luis, is one of the most touching stories shared across the country this week.

A black-and-white picture of a forlorn Aurelia Matias, 73, sitting on a street corner with a missing persons poster on her back, went viral after an amateur photographer posted it on Facebook.

Police had failed to find Luis Matias, 78, who is suffering from memory loss, after he walked out of his Manila home on November 11, but he was located within two days of the Facebook post. The old man was found in the LRT Quirino Station area. People who recognized the old man who was missing for two weeks feed the good news to DZMM Teleradyo which led to the reunion of the old inspiring couple.

"We don't even know how to use Facebook, but it was such a big help to us and we thank the person who took my mother's picture and posted it."

"My mother was overjoyed. She had almost lost hope that she would ever find him again."

The husband, a retired waiter, was found sitting atop a flower box less than half an hour's walk from home after a member of the public tipped off a radio station, one of many that latched onto the Facebook story.

The post was shared nearly 61,000 times.

"My mother is a thoughtful person. She has been bathing him, cooking for him, feeding him, and changing his diapers ever since he lost his ability to take care of himself. He was her first love.”

The photographer, who calls himself Reddie Js, recounted his chance meeting with the frail, white-haired woman, a street vendor, on his Facebook site: "I was... pained to see her looking for him in that manner, so I decided to help."

Apart from realizing once again the influence of Facebook and other social media, Lolo Aurelia and Lolo Luis allowed us once more to believe in another powerful thing which will never be programmed nor bugged down – the power of love.

There’s nothing too extraordinary in their love story but what stirred the online community was the loving effort of the 73-year-old Lola Aurelia to find her other half. In this world corrupted with animosity and betrayals, there are still people like the Matias couple who will never give up on love.

I hope we all learned from this couple. It’s more than just a love story that brought inspiration to other people. It’s a story of life and the web of support woven from compassion among strangers.

Global surveys have consistently placed the Philippines, a nation of 94 million people, as among the world's top 10 nations in terms of Facebook use.