Two groups ask justice department to prosecute Aquino, Garin, Abad in vaccine case

February 12, 2018

Two anti-crime groups have asked the justice department to prosecute former President Benigno Aquino III, ex-health secretary Janette Garin and then budget chief Butch Abad and 17 others in connection with reported deaths and serious illnesses of children injected with the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. (VPCI) on Monday filed a complaint for multiple homicide and physical injuries through negligence against Aquino and other former officials.

Also named respondents were incumbent Department of Health undersecretaries Carol Tanio, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; retired undersecretaries Nemesio Gako, Vicente Belizario Jr. and Kenneth Hartigan-Go; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago; former financial management service director Laureano Cruz; incumbent health department directors Joyce Ducusin, May Wynn Belo, Leonila Gorgolon, Rio Magpantay, Ariel Valencia and Julius Lecciones; and Garin's former executive assistant Yolanda Oliveros.

The two organizations also accused of complicity senior executives of French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, developer and manufacturer of Dengvaxia.

"Since correlation between vaccine (Dengvaxia) and deaths had been established prima facie, respondents Aquino III, Abad, Garin and the other respondents (concerned DOH officials, past and present) should stand trial for criminal negligence under Article 365 of the RPC (Revised Penal Code)... The respondents should be charged with multiple homicide and physical injuries through criminal negligence," VACC lawyer Manuelito Luna and suspended lawyer Eligio Mallari of VPCI said, in their 17-page complaint.

The complaint also included charges of malversation of public funds and violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and R.A. 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act.

According to the complainants, the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine was approved by Aquino and Abad even if the program had no allocation in the 2016 national budget.

The health department in November suspended implementation of the controversial P3.5-billion dengue vaccine project. DMS