House panels recommend filing cases vs Aquino, Abad, Garin over Dengvaxia case

February 6, 2019

A joint House panel recommended Wednesday filing of criminal and administrative and civil charges against former President Benigno Aquino III and others in connection with buying some three million doses, or P3.5-billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines in 2015.

The House committee on good government and public accountability chaired by Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and House committee on health led by Quezon Rep. Helen Tan voted 14-4 approving the committee report scheduled to be sponsored in the plenary.

The joint panel recommended the filing of graft, technical malversation, and civil case against Aquino, former Budget Secretary Florencio  Abad and ex-Health Secretary Janette Garin over alleged unauthorized use of government savings for the purchase of Dengvaxia vaccines from Sanofi Pasteur.

“These officials may therefore be held liable for, conspiring and confederating with one another for the purpose of giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence under Section 3(e) of RA No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” the report said.

Also recommended to face graft are Maria Joyce Ducusin, Julius Lecciones and Kenneth Hartigan-Go.

"The use of savings from appropriations for other projects or procurements for a procurement for which there has been no appropriation from Congress falls within the offense punished under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code,” the report said.

The report also “recommended that the PCMC (Philippine Children's Medical Center0 file a civil action against Zuellig Pharma Corporation, former President Aquino, former Secretary Abad, former Secretary Garin, and Dr. Lecciones for the recovery of the amount paid by PCMC to Zuellig Pharma Corporation for the procurement of the Dengvaxia vaccine, less whatever amount or amounts which may have already been refunded.”

Dengvaxia was given to around 800,000 public school students during the Department of Health’s (DOH) anti-dengue immunization program in April 2016.

Sanofi Pasteur announced in 2017 that the vaccine had potential severe risks to those who had not had dengue.

Records show that the DOH allocated P3.5 billion to purchase the Dengvaxia vaccines, which have been administered to children in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and the region of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon.

Approximately 10 percent of children administered with Dengvaxia, or about 73,000, have not had dengue.

This prompted the DOH to suspend its program in December 2017. DMS