Inspector Caesar Aquino, investigation chief of the Lipa City police, said the suspect, Adelaida Sawali, had introduced herself as Dr. Aida Perez and Dr. Aida Sawali, and claimed having documents from the Professional Regulatory Commission and certificates of attendance in medical seminars.
The documents, however, turned out to be spurious. Sawali eventually confessed to investigators that she was a fake doctor.
Investigation showed that Gina Navarette, 34, of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, had sought Sawali’s assistance for the treatment of her two-month-old baby, Jam Ashley, who was afflicted with hydrocephalus.
Navarette said she met Sawali at her cousin’s house in Parañaque last March 4. "She (Sawali) told me that my daughter could not be operated on by other doctors because of her frail condition," she said.
Sawali, she said, offered to treat Jam Ashley by removing the fluid from the baby’s head gradually, in exchange for a professional and medical fee.
Navarette said Sawali demanded a P20,000 downpayment, but she could only shell out P10,000 then. Sawali, she said, asked for an additional P18,800 the next day before treating Jam Ashley at her house-cum-clinic here.
Sawali took the infant in the morning of March 7, and brought her inside her clinic.
Navarette said she was not allowed to enter the clinic. "She (Sawali) told us just to wait outside while they performed a prayer as part of the healing," she recounted.
"I heard my baby cry at least three times while we were waiting outside… I got nervous when I saw (Sawali’s) assistant walk out of the room with a wet and bloodstained diaper," she said.
At about 3 p.m., Navarette said she asked Sawali’s staffers if she could see Jam Ashley, but they told her that Sawali had brought her infant to another clinic because she could no longer handle the situation.
"She told me that I could not see my daughter while she was being treated at the St. Bernadette Clinic under the care of a certain Dr. Leo David," she recalled.
"In spite of all the money she had demanded from us, we never suspected her, and we entrusted my daughter’s recovery to her," she said.
Navarette finally grew suspicious after a month had passed. After repeated demands to see her baby, she found out that there was no St. Bernadette Clinic here and no Dr. Leo David working at a Quezon City hospital as Sawali had claimed.
Navarette eventually sought the help of the Lipa City police. During interrogation, Sawali confessed that the baby died after she bore a hole in her head, and that she buried the infant at the Lipa Catholic cemetery last March 17.