Dr. Willie Ong released a statement following the planned legal action against him by television host Kris Aquino.
It can be recalled that Ong has been featured in several product ads on social media, including macadamia nuts.
The pages used a photo from Aquino and edited it to include the celebrity doctor in the pictures.
Several pages used the name of Dr. Ong and his wife Liza, to endorse the said products.
Aquino, who’s currently in America to treat her condition, has reportedly asked Divina Law to handle the charges against Ong.
Ong made his statement, saying that the ads were obviously edited and he was also a victim of the said people behind the product.
According to him, he already asked Meta to take an action against the people using his name for many years, but only with little success.
“Wala po ako ine endorse na kahit anong produkto except for one which is Birch Tree Advance, which is a charity advocacy for seniors. All the rest including Mixed Nuts are fake po. I am not the endorser or the owner of these fake FB pages using my name. The fake ads issue is a worldwide problem of influencers.” Ong said.
“My official page has a Blue Verified check mark named Doc Willie Ong with 17 million followers. All FB pages with only a few followers using my name are fake pages po. I have no control on what fake pictures they post. I have reported this to FB for the past 5 years with little success since the scammers just keep making new FB accounts. This is a problem of many influencers. I hope you can clarify this and not harm my reputation. Salamat po. – Doc Willie Ong,” he added.
He believed that the lawyers of Aquino was also misled by the said posts.
As of writing Aquino and his lawyers have yet to release a response to the statement from the doctor.