MANILA, Philippines — Norberto Landicho has been “treating” the sick and “teaching” students about the science of healing for the last five years.
But there’s one big problem: Landicho isn’t a doctor but was able to pass off as one before unsuspecting and apparently credulous owners of clinics and hospitals.
Finally on Thursday, November 9, authorities discovered Landicho’s sham Hippocratic Oath.
“Ano pangalan n’yo po? [What’s your name]?” an agent from the National Bureau of Investigation asked Landicho during an entrapment operation at a clinic in Quezon City where authorities saw the fake physician “diagnosing” his patient.
“Doctor Landicho…doktor po ako [I am Doctor Landicho…I am a doctor],” he stressed, before showing to the NBI agents his supposed medical license.
But Landicho stopped insisting when authorities showed him a document from the Professional Regulation Commission stating that he isn’s a licensed physician.
The NBI will file an illegal practice of medicine case against Landicho.
Section 28 of Republic Act 2382 or the Medical Act of 1959 states that, “Any person found guilty of “illegal practice of medicine” shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand pesos nor more than ten thousand pesos with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, or by imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.”
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