Claim: The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) posted a video of Manila Doctors Hospital internist-cardiologist Dr. Anthony Leachon endorsing Bee Venom Japan Cream. The product claims to cure bone and joint ailments.
Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook video containing the claim has over 610,000 views, 2,500 reactions, and 1,400 comments as of writing. It was posted by a Facebook page named “Philippine General Hospital + Eliminate Concerns About Bones and Joints.”
The video has superimposed text that says, “Magandang balita para sa mga pasyente ng buto at kasukasuan (Good news for those suffering from bone and joint ailments).”
It also has a Filipino caption claiming that the product cures joint, knee, back, hands, neck, and gout problems. The post claims that the product is approved by the University of the Philippines (UP).
Fake page: Leachon told Rappler via a Viber message that the ad is “fake” and is made with “artificial intelligence.”
The Facebook page is among several that have been using the PGH’s name to pretend that they are the official page of the hospital, prompting the state hospital to issue warnings about illegitimate pages in 2020 and 2023.
The official Facebook page of the PGH, named “University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital,” has over 134,000 likes and 142,000 followers as of writing.
Spliced clip, AI-lipsynced voice: The clips of Leachon shown in the ad were spliced from a video originally published on the doctor’s official YouTube channel on May 5, 2023.
The video with the claim used clips from the 1:38 to 1:44 timestamp of Leachon’s original video. Leachon was talking about a patient with heart failure symptoms who asked if the condition was heart failure or long COVID-19. Leachon did not mention Bee Venom Japan Cream in the original video.
Not FDA registered: The product Bee Venom Japan Cream endorsed in the video is also not on the Philippine Food and Drug Administration’s list of registered products, as seen on its online verification portal.
Similar claims: Rappler has fact-checked another fake page posing as PGH that posted an ad for Bee Venom Japan Cream using clips from Leachon’s social media account. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com
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