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The Mayon Miracle Oil endorsement reel misuses Dr. Gonzalo Banuelos Jr.’s identity to promote the product as a cancer treatment
Claim: Radiation oncologist Dr. Gonzalo Banuelos Jr. endorses Mayon Miracle Oil, a product that claims to cure cancer.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in an October 16 Facebook video by the page Mayon Miracle Oil – Albay Distributor, which has over 1,000 likes and 2,000 followers. As of writing, the misleading advertisement has over 510,000 views, 4,600 reactions, and 1,500 comments.
The video alleges that Banuelos endorses “Mayon Miracle Oil” as a more affordable cancer cure, saying that it has successfully treated many of his previous patients and that the product is cheaper than chemotherapy, surgery, and other anti-cancer treatments.
The facts: In separate posts, the Central Luzon Integrated Oncology Centre (CLIOC) and Dr. Banuelos’ daughter, Raissa Banuelos, both debunked the “false and misleading” advertisement.
“Dr. Banuelos is not affiliated with Mayon Miracle Oil or any organization associated with it. The use of Dr. Banuelos’ videos by Mayon Miracle Oil to promote their product is misleading and potentially harmful to patients. We strongly denounce Mayon Miracle Oil’s fraudulent use of our videos to deceive cancer patients,” CLIOC said.
Raissa Banuelos also added that portions of the fake advertisement, taken from old lecture videos on a medical center’s Facebook account, were dubbed to falsely imply that the doctor endorses the supposed miracle oil as a cancer treatment.
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Not registered: Mayon Miracle Oil is also not listed on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approved food and drug products, which means it did not go through the agency’s registration process and was not issued a Certificate of Product Registration.
Selling health products without proper FDA authorization is prohibited under Republic Act No. 9711, also known as the “Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009.”
Cancer cure: According to the American Cancer Society, there isn’t one cure for cancer, and each cancer type needs to be treated differently. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said “many cancers can be cured if detected early and treated effectively.”
Citing findings from the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer – Global Cancer Observatory, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that cancer was the second leading cause of death in 2022, with lung, breast, and liver cancers topping the list.
Past false claims: Rappler has published several fact-checks on misleading social media posts that used materials from public personalities to promote various alleged health products:
– Larry Chavez/Rappler.com
Larry Chavez is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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