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Willie Ong

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For the Scottish-American professional golfer, see Willie Ogg.

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Tan and the surname or paternal family name is Ong.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Co (許).
Willie Ong
許偉利
Ong in 2018
Born
Willie Tan Ong

(1963-10-24) October 24, 1963 (age 61)[1]
Manila, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Alma materUniversity of the Philippines Diliman (BS)
De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute (M.D)
University of the Philippines Manila (M.P.H)
Occupations
  • Cardiologist
  • internist
  • writer
  • vlogger
Political partyAksyon Demokratiko (2021–present)
Other political
affiliations		Lakas–CMD (2018–2021)
Spouse
Anna Liza Ramoso
​
(m. 1993)​
Children2
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2007–present
GenreInformative vlogging
Subscribers9.5 million[2]
Total views1.442 billion[2]
Associated actsLiza Ramoso-Ong
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: June 7, 2024

Willie Tan Ong (Chinese: 許偉利; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khó͘ Úi-lī; pinyin: Xǔ Wěilì;[3] born October 24, 1963) is a Filipino cardiologist, internist and media personality who rose to prominence for giving medical advice through his Facebook page and YouTube channel. Ong was also a candidate for the 2019 Philippine Senate election, largely capitalizing on his social media presence. He was a candidate for vice president in the 2022 Philippine presidential election as the running mate of former mayor of Manila Isko Moreno.

Early life and education

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Ong was born in Manila on October 24, 1963. His father, Ong Yong, was an immigrant from Jinjiang, China who settled in the Philippines in 1922. Better known as Co Tec Tai (許澤台) in the Chinese Filipino community,[3] the elder Ong was an active charity worker who served as president for various civic organizations.[4]

For his elementary and high school education, Ong attended Xavier School in San Juan, Metro Manila. He studied botany at the University of the Philippines Diliman[1] and then earned his medical degree at the De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute, which was then the College of Medicine of De La Salle University, in 1992.[4]

Medical career

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Ong completed his residency in internal medicine at Manila Doctors Hospital, where he was the chief resident. He then completed his fellowship in cardiology at the Philippine General Hospital, where he was the chief fellow. He also achieved the award for the highest academic performance when he earned his Masters in Public Health at the University of the Philippines Manila.[5]

Ong has also authored books. His first publication is the Medicine Blue Book which is often used by Filipino medical students and neophyte doctors. He also wrote the Cardiology Blue Book, which is a guidebook for diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions.[6]

He has also worked as a consultant with the Department of Health from 2010 to 2014.[6] Ong also established the Co Tec Tai Medical Museum in Pasay, named in honor of his father and reportedly the first medical museum in the Philippines.[4] The museum documents the history of healthcare in the Philippines.

Television, radio and journalism

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In 2005, Ong became part of RJTV where he produced his own television show.[7] From 2008 to 2018, he made appearances on ABS-CBN's Salamat Dok. He did not have a regular segment on the television show and only participated as a volunteer. He left Salamat Dok in October 2018 to pursue an electoral bid for the Senate in 2019.[8][7] Ong also wrote for The Philippine Star and its sister publications, Pilipino Star Ngayon and PM PangMasa as a columnist.[6]

Ong was also a resident doctor and host at DZRH's public service program Docs on Call from 2009 to 2017.[9]

Social media presence

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Ong started maintaining an online presence when he set up a YouTube channel in 2007, where he posts videos providing health tips and medical explainers targeted to a general audience.[8] As of November 2023, his YouTube channel "Doc Willie Ong" has 9.04 million subscribers, and is the 15th most subscribed YouTube channel in the Philippines.[10]

According to Ong, he established his presence in Facebook in 2013 after he confronted an impersonator who created a Facebook page using his name and reposted his medical columns and newspaper articles. The impersonator handed control of the page to the real Ong, and met with him every week to help grow his Facebook presence while Ong continued to write original content for the page.[7] Ong is currently the 10th most followed Filipino personality on Facebook, with 17 million Facebook followers as of November 2023.[11]

Political career

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2019 Senate bid

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Ong launched a bid to get elected as a Senator in the 2019 Philippine elections.[12] His electoral campaign had a focus on health issues, particularly on providing a "holistic approach to providing total health care", leveraging on him being the "only doctor running for the Senate". Had he won, he would be the fifth physician to be elected in the Congress' upper house preceding Juan Nolasco (1931–1935), Jose Locsin (1954–1957), Juan Flavier (1995–2007) and Luisa Ejercito Estrada (2001–2007).[13] Outside of health issues, Ong also expressed openness for the introduction of death penalty for heinous crimes, the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and the adoption of federalism as the form of government for the Philippines.[14]

Running on the banner of the Lakas–CMD political party, Ong said he did not rely on campaign donations to "avoid being indebted to anyone". Instead he relied on his online presence on Facebook and YouTube where he has 9.7 million followers and 1 million subscribers respectively as of March 2019.[13] His campaign was also backed by 23 other pages with over 800 thousand followers and 28 groups with about 87.6 thousand members in Facebook. According to Ong's wife, some of these presence were managed by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who volunteered to support Willie Ong's campaign. Ong was also backed by other social media pages which supported other candidates backed by President Rodrigo Duterte's administration such as Imee Marcos and Bong Go.[8]

Ong also supported the Anakalusugan Party-list's election bid, by featuring for two seconds in an advertisement supporting the organization.[8]

He failed to win one of the 12 contested seats in the Senate, finishing 18th in the polls with 7.5 million votes. According to his wife, they spent around ₱500,000 on his personal campaign. Counting only votes by OFWs, Ong ranked second behind Bato dela Rosa.[8]

2022 vice presidential campaign

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Ong (left) and Manila mayor Isko Moreno filing their certificates of candidacy for vice president and president respectively.

On September 21, 2021, it was announced that he will run for vice president in 2022 as the running mate of Manila mayor Isko Moreno.[15] Ong left Lakas–CMD a day later after his announcement to run for vice president.[16] He joined Moreno's political party, Aksyon Demokratiko, on September 25.[17] On May 9, 2022, Ong lost in his bid to Sara Duterte placing fourth out of nine candidates. Ong conceded to Duterte on May 11.[18]

2025 Senate bid

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Despite undergoing treatment for cancer, Ong filed his certificate of candidacy for senator on October 3, 2024 for the 2025 Philippine elections through his wife, Anna Liza Ramoso.[19]

Personal life

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Ong is married to Anna Liza Ramoso, who is also a physician.[1][6] They first met each other in 1992 while Ong was working as an intern at San Juan De Dios Hospital and married a year later.[9] They have two daughters.[6] On September 14, 2024, Ong revealed that he had been diagnosed with sarcoma and was undergoing chemotherapy.[20] He was also diagnosed with neutropenic sepsis two days later.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "ONG, Willie Eleksyon 2019". GMA News Online. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "About Doc Willie Ong". YouTube.
  3. ^ a b "許偉利（DR. WILLIE ONG）醫學博士 榮獲本年度光啟學校模範校友獎" [Dr. Willie Ong, M.D. receives this year's K Laser School Exemplary Alumni Award]. Chinese Commercial News (in Chinese). March 22, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Tacio, Henrylito (October 8, 2012). "Pasay medical museum shows how epidemics shaped history". GMA News Online. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  5. ^ "VotePH 2022 - Our Vote, Our Future: Willie Ong". Inquirer.net. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e Flores, Helen M. (July 21, 2019). "Willie Ong: The doctor is 'in'". The Philippine Star. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c ""We should uplift the conversation. Should I change myself in order to please them to get the votes?"-Dr. Willie Ong, Senatorial Candidate". Esquiremag.ph. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Almost victory: Doc Willie Ong's OFW votes, social media support". Rappler. May 31, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Tacio, Henrylito D. (August 3, 2018). "Game Changer: Meet the Doctor of the Masses". Edge Davao. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  10. ^ "Doc Willie Ong's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile)". SocialBlade.
  11. ^ "Philippines: most followed Filipino celebrities on Facebook 2022". Statista. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  12. ^ Orellana, Cathrine Gonzales, Faye (October 11, 2018). "Dr. Willie Ong files COC for Senate bid". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved September 5, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b Ong, Ghio (March 16, 2019). "Doc Willie: Health sector needs voice in Senate". The Philippine Star. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  14. ^ "PROFILE: Who is Doc Willie Ong?". Rappler. Archived from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  15. ^ Ranada, Pia (September 21, 2021). "Isko Moreno to run for president in 2022". Rappler. Manila, Philippines. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  16. ^ Mercado, Neil Arwin (September 23, 2021). "After announcing to run for VP, Willie Ong bolts Lakas-CMD". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  17. ^ Mendoza, John Eric (September 25, 2021). "Doc Willie Ong takes oath as Aksyon Demokratiko member". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  18. ^ Ramos, Jaleen (May 11, 2022). "Doc Willie Ong wishes BBM, Sara success as he concedes defeat". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  19. ^ Villaruel, Jauhn Etienne (October 3, 2024). "Doc Willie Ong launches Senate bid amid cancer battle". ABS-CBN. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  20. ^ "Doc Willie Ong announces cancer diagnosis". GMA News. September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  21. ^ Doc Willie Ong (September 15, 2024). Doc Willie May Bagong Pagsubok Na Naman, Nag Kritikal (Sept 7-11, 2024). Retrieved September 16, 2024 – via YouTube.
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