With the help of social media, netizen finds long-lost father

Photo screenshot from Ej Aquino’s post

MOALBOAL, CEBU — He once failed to locate his father, but he never gave up.

And with the help of social media, Facebook user Ej Aquino finally succeeded in finding his father whom he hasn’t met yet.

So, how did he do it?

Aquino, who is currently living in Chicago Illinois, USA, posted on his Facebook timeline on Monday, May 25, 2020, an old photo of his father named Jimmy Caminto, whom he believed is from Argao town, Cebu.

With the photo came this caption: “Please share this post and provide me with any information of him/his relatives that will benefit my search. Thank you all so much! His name is JIMMY CAMINTO [CAMENTO] from Argao, Cebu Philippine.”

And as expected, the post helped. Less than 24 hours since he posted the picture, he finally found his dad.

“I found my dad!…..I guess it was trending in Argao! My sister actually messaged me on FB,” he said.

He then shared the good news on his Facebook timeline, tagging his sister, Hazel Mae Camento, who is with their father in Iligan City in Mindanao.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone that took the time to share that post I made about my dad last night! It hasn’t even been 24 hours! The power of social media is insane!” his recent post reads.

“I finally found my dad after 21 years!! I also have 2 sisters! That is crazy!!! Lol I’m not an only child anymore,” the post added.

Aquino said he started his quest to find his father anew when his grandmother passed away on May 22, 2020 due to cancer.

“My lola recently passed away couple days ago, and that’s the only thing that she left me with–his picture. I wanted to meet him for a while now, just because I’ve been so curious,” he said.

Now that he found his long-lost father, Aquino said he is planning to return to the Philippines next year to see him and his sisters. /bmjo