Mr. Miguel P. Acebedo

June 16, 1995 Mr. Miguel P. Acebedo Acebedo Optical 2/F GSP Building 901 Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila S i r : This refers to your letter of June 13, 1995 requesting this Commission to comment on the Optometry Bill , particularly on the provisions thereof pertaining to the prohibition of any form of advertisement in media outlets which give information and impression to the public that the particular optometrist is better than the others , which prohibition extends to corporations . LibLex It is well-settled that a corporation cannot engage in the practice of profession upon the premise that the practice thereto must be based on individual personal qualifications. Personal qualifications for the practice of professions cannot be possessed by a corporation, and in view of the distinct and separate personality of a corporation from the individual stockholders/members, it could not have the power to do an act requiring a license which only the individual stockholders/members could obtain. Accordingly, since the practice of optometry is a professional service, it cannot be legally undertaken by a corporate entity. The Commission, however, allows optometrist to form and register as partnership, in which case, it is the individual optometrist, not the partnership firm, who engages the practice of optometry and is responsible for his own acts as such. While a corporation engaged in the manufacture of eyeglasses and other optical instruments may hire the services of optometrists, the hiring is merely incidental or necessary to carry out its manufacturing business . It cannot hire optometrists to carry on the business of practicing optometry for it, as the same would constitute "practice of profession" which cannot be legally performed by a corporation. Thus, we believe that corporations engaged in the manufacture of optical products are not covered by the prohibition as they are not, strictly speaking, engaged in the practice of optometry. The prohibition referred to in the Bill are advertisements in relation to the practice of optometry , not on the manufacture of optical eyeglasses and other related instruments. A manufacturer of optical products is not prohibited from advertising, provided that the representations contained in the advertising materials are related to its products and does not tend to mislead the public that it is engaged in the practice of optometry. Perhaps, one of the reasons for including corporations in the prohibition is to prevent them from illegal practice of optometry. Very truly yours, (SGD.) ROSARIO N. LOPEZ Chairman