FALSE: Medical City, private hospitals ‘raided’ for PPE donations

Claim: Messages and posts on social media claim that the government raided The Medical City and other private hospitals, taking away their personal protective equipment (PPE).

The raids were supposedly done under Administrative Order No. 27, which orders the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to centralize donations to the national government, keep an inventory of these, and coordinate with government agencies for their allocation.

These confiscated donations are supposedly repackaged and donated again to hospitals under Senator Bong Go’s name.

The claims have a screenshot of a Facebook post that says: “This poor excuse of a government is actually raiding hospitals who have received donations in their bid to consolidate everything with the OCD. Yes. HINDI NA NGA SILA TUMUTULONG, NAGRE-RAID PA SILA (They are already not helping, and they are raiding on top of that). So this means that (1) doctors who are already busy saving lives have to be burdened by paperwork to request necessities from the DOH, (2) the private sector who stepped up to cover DOH’s idiocy now has to course their donations through the same failing system.”

They also include a screenshot of a comment saying “May isang hospital ni-raid and all donations from PRIVATE SECTORS/INDIVIDUALS were confiscated.” (One hospital was raided and all donations from private sectors/individuals were confiscated.)

Some also include photos of boxes labeled “Masks from: Malacañang (Bong Go).”

Another version of the claim includes a screenshot of a message saying Medical City specifically was raided under the orders of Go. 

The posts began to circulate on Wednesday, April 1, and have been shared collectively at least 500,000 times as of posting.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: The Medical City, Pasig City police, and the Office of Civil Defense all denied the claim.

The Medical City on Thursday, April 2, released a statement on their official Facebook page saying, “There are news circulating that a raid of PPEs occurred in our premises on the evening of April 1. We deny this and encourage everyone to be careful in spreading unverified information.”

In a phone interview with Rappler on Wednesday evening, April 1, Pasig City Police Chief Colonel Moises Villaceran said that a raid on Medical City would be “impossible.”

“Walang ganoon. Imposible ‘yun na basta-basta mapasok kasi private sila,” he said, adding that they go there every morning to offer transportation to healthcare workers who can’t find ways to commute on their own during the lockdown.

(That didn’t happen. It’s impossible for anyone to just enter because they’re private.)

“Ako nga noong pumunta doon ‘di nagbibigay ng information basta-basta,” Villaceran said. (Even when I went there before they didn’t just give out information.)

OCD Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad also denied the claim to Rappler via text message on April 2, saying: “What I assure is we don’t have that instruction to consolidate or impound PPEs confiscated from hospitals. Why would NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] raid a hospital for accepting donations? What legal basis? Do you think DOJ or their lawyers will allow that?

“The order is for OCD to consolidate all donations to the national government. Direct donations may continue without consolidation by OCD, provided those are reported to the latter. With this, we can have a full picture of all donations received by the national government, unlike in the past.”

Administrative Order No. 27, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 31, only asks the OCD to bring together all donations to the Department of Health and the national government, not to private institutions. – Vernise L Tantuco/Rappler.com