1. Willie Tan Ong is a Filipino cardiologist, internist and media personality who rose to prominence for giving medical advice through his Facebook page and YouTube channel.
29 Facts About Willie Ong
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Willie Ong was a candidate for vice president in the 2022 Philippine presidential election as the running mate of former mayor of Manila Isko Moreno.
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Willie Ong's father, Ong Yong, was an immigrant from Jinjiang, China who settled in the Philippines in 1922.
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Better known as Co Tec Tai in the Chinese Filipino community, the elder Willie Ong was an active charity worker who served as president for various civic organizations.
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Willie Ong studied botany at the University of the Philippines Diliman 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.
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Willie Ong completed his residency in internal medicine at Manila Doctors Hospital, where he was the chief resident.
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Willie Ong then completed his fellowship in cardiology at the Philippine General Hospital, where he was the chief fellow.
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Willie Ong achieved the award for the highest academic performance when he earned his Masters in Public Health at the University of the Philippines Manila.
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Willie Ong wrote the Cardiology Blue Book, which is a guidebook for diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions.
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Willie Ong has worked as a consultant with the Department of Health from 2010 to 2014.
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Willie Ong established the Co Tec Tai Medical Museum in Pasay, named in honor of his father and reportedly the first medical museum in the Philippines.
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In 2005, Willie Ong became part of RJTV where he produced his own television show.
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Willie Ong did not have a regular segment on the television show and only participated as a volunteer.
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Willie Ong left Salamat Dok in October 2018 to pursue an electoral bid for the Senate in 2019.
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Willie Ong wrote for The Philippine Star and its sister publications, Pilipino Star Ngayon and PM PangMasa as a columnist.
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Willie Ong was a resident doctor and host at DZRH's public service program Docs on Call from 2009 to 2017.
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Willie 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.
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The impersonator handed control of the page to the real Willie Ong, and met with him every week to help grow his Facebook presence while Willie Ong continued to write original content for the page.
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Willie Ong is currently the 10th most followed Filipino personality on Facebook, with 17 million Facebook followers as of November 2023.
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Willie Ong launched a bid to get elected as a Senator in the 2019 Philippine elections.
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Outside of health issues, Willie Ong 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.
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Willie Ong's campaign was backed by 23 other pages with over 800 thousand followers and 28 groups with about 87.6 thousand members in Facebook.
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Willie Ong was backed by other social media pages which supported other candidates backed by President Rodrigo Duterte's administration such as Imee Marcos and Bong Go.
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Willie Ong supported the Anakalusugan Party-list's election bid, by featuring for two seconds in an advertisement supporting the organization.
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Willie Ong failed to win one of the 12 contested seats in the Senate, finishing 18th in the polls with 7.5 million votes.
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On May 9,2022, Willie Ong lost in his bid to Sara Duterte, placing fourth out of nine candidates.
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Willie Ong is married to Anna Liza Ramoso, who is a physician.
28.
On September 14,2024, Willie Ong revealed that he had been diagnosed with sarcoma and was undergoing chemotherapy.
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Willie Ong was diagnosed with neutropenic sepsis two days later.