MANILA, Philippines — Joining a national election for the second time, vice presidential bet Dr. Willie Ong said he would “try and try again” to succeed at winning the people’s mandate.
Facing “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News Friday night, the candidate of Aksyon Demokratiko – who is famous on social media for his videos tackling various health issues – was asked how he would convince his followers to vote for him.
“I don’t tell them vote for me. I stay honest with them. The only thing I can do (is) I just have to run again and again and again until I lose enough… (year) 2025 most likely I will run, 2028, 2031 if I still can,” he said.
He joined the elections for the first time in 2019 by running as an independent candidate for senator, but lost.
Now, Ong has 16 million followers on Facebook and 7.06 million more on YouTube.
When asked how he would be able to translate his huge social media following into votes, Ong claimed his subscribers see him as a physician and not as a politician. He added his followers might miss his health-themed videos should he win as vice president.
“Even with my big engagement online, it did not convert (into votes)… I have to convince them I’m ready to do this and I’m doing this to help,” he said partly in Filipino.
When the program hosts asked him if he would “as a matter of policy” allow candidates to keep excess campaign funds for as long as they pay taxes – alluding to his running mate for president Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso’s own admission that he kept around P50 million in campaign funds after losing in the senatorial race in 2016 – Ong talked about the prevalence of social media trolls.
He asserted trolls, especially those on Facebook, could “influence elections” and that he opposes using campaign money to “pay for these services that influence the elections.”
“They should be caught by the DICT or NBI. Trolls brainwashing everyone on Facebook is a big problem,” he said.
Ong was also asked to comment on “mixing and matching” candidates, after some groups supporting Moreno as president had endorsed Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for vice president instead of him.
He admitted being surprised that Moreno was being paired with Duterte-Carpio, but said that he trusted the Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer who handpicked him to be his running mate.
“People have their own combination... that’s the way it is sometimes, so I just go on.”
He also declared he holds no grudge against his fellow candidates and that he was even fine with them getting more votes than him. “I don’t give attention to extraneous things – whatever controversies and plans,” he said.