Criminal raps filed vs. Noynoy, Abad, Garin over Dengvaxia mess

Two advocacy groups on Monday filed with the Department of Justice criminal complaints against former President Benigno Aquino III, former Health secretary Janette Garin, former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, and several others over their alleged liability in the government purchase of the controversial vaccine Dengvaxia.

The groups — Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution, Incorporated (VPCI) — accused the respondents of committing multiple homicide and physical injuries through criminal negligence, graft, technical malversation, and violation of the procurement law for the purchase of Dengvaxia, which is blamed for the deaths of several recipients, all minors.

Also named respondents were some past and present Department of Health officials, as well as "directors, officers or employees" of Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur and pharmaceutical firm Zuellig Pharma.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio of VACC is set to file a plunder complaint against Aquino, Garin and Abad, according to VACC lawyer Manuelito Luna.

The complaint is on top of at least three other complaints filed against Aquino and four against Garin in relation to the Dengvaxia controversy, which stemmed from Sanofi Pasteur's admission in November last year that the anti-dengue vaccine may aggravate the infection in individuals without a history of dengue prior to immunization.

Both chambers of Congress are investigating the issue.

Kids as guinea pigs?

In their new complaint, the complainants alleged that the respondents were "directly and proximately responsible for the anti-dengue Dengvaxia mess" and should be held accountable "not only for the ensuing deaths but also for the undue injury cause any private party, including the government."

Citing the affidavit of a Dr. Clarito Cairo, they also alleged that the dengue immunization program was used to further the candidacy of Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Mar Roxas and other party bets in the run-up to the 2016 elections.

The complaint also insisted that "some deaths and dengue shocks" are "irrefutably" linked to the vaccine.

"Clearly, the deaths and dengue shock or adverse events noted following inoculation of Dengvaxia are correlated or linked," they said in the complaint. "The causal relationship between vaccine and deaths, dengue shock or adverse events, under the circumstances, could hardly be ignored. And the number of counts would be the number of subjects inoculated irrespective of the number of doses administered."

Luna said only the issue on alleged Dengvaxia-linked deaths are "disputed" while the others were "incontrovertible."

The complaint further stated that Aquino, Abad, Garin and Philippine Children's Medical Center Executive Director Julius Lecciones, in their role in the procurement of the P3.55-billion worth of Dengvaxia, "used innocent children as ''guinea pigs.'"

A series of complaints

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) last week filed a civil suit asking for P4.2 million in damages against Garin, former DOH officials, Sanofi Pasteur and Zuellig Pharma over the death of a 10-year-old girl who was given Dengvaxia.

VACC also filed a complaint against Aquino, Garin, and other officials over alleged violation of the provision of the Omnibus Election Code prohibiting the release and use of government funds for poll campaign within 45 days before a regular election or 30 days before a special election.

Aquino and Garin are also facing graft raps filed by Gabriela party-list representatives and mass murder and plunder complaints lodged by former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief and erstwhile Iloilo Representative Augusto Syjuco Jr.

However, an expert panel from the University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) found that of the 14 children whose deaths they examined, only three died of dengue, and none could be directly attributable to Dengvaxia.

This runs in contrast with findings of PAO’s forensics team that linked Dengvaxia to the deaths.

Sanofi Pasteur has so far maintained that their vaccine has not caused any death. The French pharmaceutical firm also declined a DOH request for a refund of used Dengvaxia doses, saying it would "imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case.”

The government’s dengue immunization program, which inoculated over 830,000 school children in 2016, has been suspended following Sanofi's disclosure on Dengvaxia, the world’s first anti-dengue vaccine. —KBK, GMA News