Doctor denies involvement in PT exam leak

MANILA, Philippines – A doctor who was among the respondents in a copyright infringement case yesterday presented rulings by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which cleared him of involvement in the alleged leakage of exam questions in the state-administered physical therapy exam.

In an interview with The STAR, Dr. Carlito Balita said that the US Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) only implicated him in the case because the St. Louis Review Center (SLRC) was renting part of the space of his nursing review center at the time agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided SLRC.

The case was investigated by the DOJ and later dismissed by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño on Aug. 17, 2009 for “insufficiency of evidence.” 

“Why is that they (FSBPT) are blacklisting us when the DOJ had cleared us twice already? Don’t they have trust in our system?” Balita, who was former president of the Quezon City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, asked.

He also denied that he and his co-respondents Gerard Lopez Martin and Roger Tong-an were co-proprietors of the SLRC.

The resolution explained that Balita only leased the premises of the second floor of the Carmen Bldg. in España, Manila to a certain Edward Ramos, who also rented some spare rooms from Martin, to use for his physical therapy reviews as a franchisee of SLRC.

Balita also denied owning a flash drive that was confiscated, along with other objects, by the NBI.

“After careful consideration and evaluation of the evidence presented, the undersigned is not inclined to believe that the existence of probable cause for copyright infringement has been sufficiently established by complainant against Martin, Balita and Tong-an,” the resolution stated.

The resolution also noted that Balita “is a franchisee of SLRC and a legitimate tenant of Carmen Bldg., who merely sub-leased spare rooms to respondent Martin.

“It is worthy to note that respondent Balita’s field of endeavor was actually limited to the nursing profession and not to physical therapy. As certified by respondent Tong-an, respondent Balita is exclusively engaged in nursing review under the SLRC network,” the resolution reads. 

Balita, who is vice president of the Review Center Association of the Philippines, said he was saddened upon hearing FSBPT’s decision to suspend the National Physical Therapy Examination in the country as well as in Egypt, India, and Pakistan.

But he said he hope that the security measures being set up by the group will be in place soon to assure the validity and reliability of the examinations.   

The FSBPT had earlier announced that they were blacklisting the Philippines due to leakages of questions for the physical therapy licensure exams.