Cosmetic surgeon cleared of charges

10/25/2008

The Makati Prosecutor’s Office has ruled in favor of prominent cosmetic surgeons Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Calayan after it junked the three cases, including a multimillion-peso estafa charges, filed by a Fil-Am businessman as a result of an alleged failed penile enlargement surgery last year.

Makati 2nd Assistant City Prosecutor Edgardo Hirang said in a three-page resolution there was no probable cause to charge Calayan with perjury since the complainant, Louem Martinez aka “Louem Bushok” failed to substantiate his accusation against the respondent.

“After study, assessment and thorough evaluation of the arguments and evidence adduced by the parties, we find the evidence of the complainant insufficient to support the existence of probable cause for the crime of perjury in solemn affirmation,” part of the prosecutor’s ruling said.

Hirang also said Martinez failed to produce evidence showing that the respondent deliberately lied in his counter-affidavit submitted in response to the accusation.

“Here, we fail to find that the respondent made a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood in paragraph 2.06 of his counter-affidavit dated April 30, 2008. And even if there may have been falsehood asserted, which we are not prepared to accept, no evidence exists to show that the same was done deliberately and willfully. Clearly, mere assertion of a falsehood is not enough to amount to a perjury,” the ruling added.

The prosecutor also took the side of Calayan that the Bureau of Food and Drugs had disclosed that there was no material inconsistency between the respondent’s statement in his counter-affidavit and that of the BFAD.

“On the contrary, the BFAD letter tends to confirm respondent’s assertion that ‘Aquagel’ and ‘Aquamed’ were duly cleared by the BFAD as they were both registered to the agency. Likewise, we do not find in the respondent’s counter-affidavit that he stated that Aquagel and Aquamed were BFAD-approved for penile enlargement,” the prosecutor added.

In his complaint, Martinez said Calayan deliberately lied when he stated that Aquamed, a brand of skin filler used by dermatologists, has been duly cleared and approved by BFAD as a derma filler for injection in the girth of a penis for penile enlargement and that the use of Aquagel in penis enlargement is BFAD-approved.

He also said the Calayan SurgiCenter Corp. is not the licensed importer of the products but by another two separate establishments. Pat C. Santos

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