David Bunevacz and Jessica Rodriguez at the birthday of Ruffa Gutierrez last June 21, 2007, when they were the face and name of Beverly Hills 6750.
Seven months later, the couple are having legal problems with Beverly Hills 6750.
 

Noel Orsal

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SPECIAL REPORT (PART I): Beverly Hills 6750’s U.S. partner clinic no longer in operation

Karen Pagsolingan and Jo-Ann Maglipon

Friday, February 1, 2008
01:05 PM

As 2007 closed, news broke that the couple David Bunevacz and Jessica Rodriguez—Bunevacz had split from Beverly Hills 6750—or, as news also had it, it was the high-end beauty clinic that had initiated the split from the high-profile couple.

In the ensuing mess, the couple have filed a suit against some partners at the clinic for alleged physical injuries, even as Beverly Hills 6750's lawyers have sent the couple a demand letter to answer for funds allegedly misused.

As 2008 begins, there is more news breaking involving the beleaguered couple and the clinic they helped build up. This time, the spotlight is on their affiliate partner in the U.S.—the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute.

The Philippine Entertainment Portal (www.pep.ph) was the first to release last year's story on the Bunevacz-Beverly Hills 6750 split—not as blind item, not as rumor, not as gossip—but as a full story with dates, figures, quotes, and insider information.

This year, PEP is the first to break the news that the U.S.-based Beverly Hills Surgical Institute, to which Beverly Hills 6750 claims affiliation, no longer exists and, in fact, no longer existed at the time Beverly Hills 6750 was launched in Manila.

In December 2007, information reaching PEP claimed that the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute has no valid address in Beverly Hills, California, and no contact number at all in the United States.

The claim is, of course, no small issue. PEP buckled down to investigate.

MUCH ADO ABOUT BEVERLY HILLS. The public will recall that Beverly Hills 6750 entered the aesthetic surgery business in Manila in late 2006 with much fanfare. Aside from David and Jessica Bunevacz personally handling the media frontline, the clinic had no less than 1994 Miss Universe Dayanara Torres as its official celebrity endorser. Following the media hype that included features in major publications and appearances on television, the clinic successfully penetrated the lucrative local beauty market, which at the time was dominated (and still is) by the Belo Medical Group.

But more than the presence of the stunning Dayanara Torres and the charming Bunevacz couple, Beverly Hills 6750 had a sales pitch as unique as it was impressive-Beverly Hills 6750 claimed to be affiliated with a renowned U.S. clinic catering to a Hollywood clientele: the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute.

In Hollywood-crazy Philippines, that is one major credential.

In the Manila Standard (Sept. 12, 2006), Isah Red quoted David Bunevacz, then president of Beverly Hills 6750, making this pitch about the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute: "The salon holds the secret of many beautiful women we see on screen on TV shows and in the movies made in Hollywood. And we are unveiling that secret on the domestic front for the first time."

To drive home the point, in October 2006, Beverly Hills 6750 flew in Dayanara Torres to do blitz promotions for the local clinic all over television talk shows, broadsheets, magazines, and tabloids. YES! magazine, acceding to the request of the Bunevacz couple, conducted an email interview with Dayanara weeks before her arrival, in preparation for a December cover appearance.

Dayanara, of course, was not just another international beauty queen, she was also the former wife of Salsa King Marc Anthony, who made news when he went on to marry the even more famous Latina Jennifer Lopez. But still more than that, Dayanara was a well-loved celebrity in Manila. After all, Filipinos remember her fondly as the Puerto Rican beauty who stole the heart of their matinee idol Aga Muhlach in the ‘90s.

In March 2007, Beverly Hills 6750 launched the controversial search for Miss Ugly (No More), a reality-based contest where viewers were asked to vote for one "ugly" female to be given a one-million-peso makeover by the clinic. The search, patterned after Hollywood's Extreme Makeover, attracted Filipinas from the lower and middle classes.

Once again, Beverly Hills 6750's catchiest advertising phrases were "Beverly Hills" and "Hollywood." Clearly, the clinic knew that invoking links to America was good for business, and it wasn't shy about doing so again and again.

LOCATING THE INSTITUTE. When David and Jessica Bunevacz first marketed Beverly Hills 6750, they never let up with the write-ups and announcements flagging their partnership with the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute. They fed the public with images of the Institute's posh clinics in the wealthy enclave of Beverly Hills and throughout Southern California, where their regular and satisfied clients were supposed to be Hollywood's rich and famous.

PEP became curious: where exactly were these clinics located?

PEP then turned to the official website of Beverly Hills 6750, www.bh5670.com, which indicated that www.weknowbeauty.com was the website of its affiliate partner in the United States.

The next step was to check out www.weknowbeauty.com, and this we did several times from December 2007 to January 2008.

On the site's "Locations" section, we came upon this announcement: "[The Institute] took pride in providing cosmetic and plastic surgery services throughout Southern California including Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Newport Beach, Brea, Torrance, Encino, Irvine, Long Beach, Oxnard, Riverside, Thousand Oaks, Upland, Valencia and in Orange County, San Bernardino County, Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Riverside County and the Inland Empire."

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