Several posts on Facebook (FB), YouTube and TikTok claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was brought to the hospital for alleged kidney problems. These have no basis.
Posted on April 3, vlogger Maharlika (real name: Claire Eden Contreras) claimed during an FB live from The Hague that people who used to work in Malacañang told her Marcos was hospitalized due to a kidney problem. She, however, added that this was not confirmed yet.
She repeated a similar claim the day after through an FB post saying:
“Text from Puting Ahas kahapon. ‘Vangag rushed to San Miguel hospital emergency just now’ PCO, totoo ba?!
(Text message from White Snake yesterday. ‘BBM rushed to San Miguel hospital emergency just now.’ [Presidential Communications Office], is this true?)”
Various posts on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube used a portion from Maharlika’s FB live and echoed the claim about Marcos’ hospitalization. These include a viral FB post sent by a reader through VERA Files’ Messenger Misinformation Tipline.
The circulating claim has no basis. There is no official statement from Malacañang regarding Marcos’ health. On the days the claim first circulated, the president was documented attending several public events.
On April 3, Marcos spoke before local government unit (LGU) officials, government agencies and other stakeholders during the ceremonial signing of the joint circular establishing child development centers by LGUs.
The president was also present during a Palace tour and storytelling activity for children who visited Malacañang that same day.
On April 4, Marcos led the nationwide kick-off celebration of the 2025 Filipino Food Month held in Lucena, Quezon Province. That same day, he visited Antipolo, Rizal to inspect a medical mission conducted by the Department of Health and tour a job fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment.
Later in the day, the president spoke before the people of Rizal during the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign rally.
VERA Files Fact Check reached out to PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro for a statement. She confirmed that Marcos was “busy with meetings” last week and was unsure if the president was aware of the circulating claim regarding his health.
“It is definitely fake news,” she added.
Claims about the president being hospitalized circulated amid theories online that Marcos is in bad health. They spread weeks after former president Rodrigo Duterte was surrendered to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on March 12 for crimes against humanity of murder and amid the widening rift between the Marcoses and Dutertes.
The posts uploaded by several FB users and by Maharlika’s FB page Boldyakan (created May 21, 2016) have collectively garnered around 91,200 reactions, 15,300 comments and 6200 shares as of April 10.
The videos on YouTube and TikTok have amassed around 735,400 views, 32,100 likes and 2,800 comments.
