Trillanes: Release of draft report on Dengvaxia a publicity stunt

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has branded as mere publicity stunt Senator Richard Gordon’s release of the draft report of the Senate blue ribbon committee, without the signatures of the panel members, on the Dengvaxia mess.

In a television interview, Trillanes said it was only meant to smear the name of former President Benigno Aquino III, who was tagged, along with former Health Secretary Janette Garin and former Budget chief Florencio Abad, as the primary conspirator in the procurement of Dengvaxia vaccine. 

“The malice and the obvious conspiracy is only in the mind of Mr. Gordon. It is an obvious publicity stunt to smear the name of President Aquino,” he told ANC television.

“It is political harassment. These things are happening within context of Chief Justice (Maria Lourdes) Sereno under fire and Senator (Leila) De Lima in jail right now and myself a subject of political harassment. All of these are part of the big picture. It cannot be taken in isolation,” he added.

Trillanes said he believes the committee report will not pass or be adopted by the Senate.

“It won’t even reach to that point that it will be voted on. I don’t think it will pass the period of interpellation, it will not stand the scrutiny of the senators,” he said, adding that he has no intention of signing the report.

“Definitely not. I’ve seen the hearings. Let me be clear, I am closely watching this issue because as a  parent, I also have my kids injected with Dengvaxia,” he said.

“I believe that we don’t have definitive information yet to warrant charges against these public officials because if that is really true, that is genocide if you really know that this is dangerous and yet you administered this drug to the public. That’s not the case in this one,” he added.

GMA News Online has reached out to Gordon’s camp but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time. 

Sanofi should be charged if...

In the same interview, Trillanes said Sanofi Pasteur should be charged if proven that Dengvaxia caused the deaths of the children who were vaccinated with it.

“It should be answerable once it has been ascertained that Dengvaxia was the cause of any fatality,” he said.

Trillanes said he believes that there was mental dishonesty on the part of the French drug manufacturer when it did not fully informed the Philippine government of the risks of Dengvaia.

“They should have divulged all the necessary information before closing the contract and before the administration of vaccine,” he said.

“I’d had my kids vaccinated by Dengvaxia in a private clinic. I cannot accuse my pediatrician of being negligent because she was given information that this vaccine would be safe.

It was only in November that Sanofi disclosed that Dengvaxia should not be given to those who have yet to be infected with dengue.

“If Sanofi gave that information to DOH and DOH pushed this, you can start accusing them of negligence or outright genocide or mass murder.  That is not the case,” he said.

Sanofi earlier denied that it concealed from the government and the public the risks of using Dengvaxia.  Sanofi said that from the time of Dengvaxia’s sale until November 2017, they had no information or data on the “serostatus of the vacinees showing a different product profile in the population of 9-years-old and above.”

The company said it only learned about the different product profile of the dengue vaccine for those with or without a previous dengue infection in November 2017.

‘No need to discuss report’

For his part, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said there is a need for the Senate to discuss the draft committee report.

"Though this report has not been made available to the members of the Blue Ribbon Committee, if the final report reflects yesterday's statements and political leanings, we will have serious concerns with the conclusions made," said Bam, a cousin of former President Aquino.

He said it was not discussed during the hearings that someone from the government got money when Dengvaxia was procured.

“Kapag sinabi mo kasing graft, ibig sabihin, may kumita. And wala namang napag-usapan during any of the hearings na nadaluhan ko. So, palagay ko, ito'y isang committee report na kailangan pa sigurong ipagdebate sa Senado,” he said.

He, however, expressed no surprise that the former president is being pinned on the issue.

“Alam naman natin na ang favorite punching bag ng administrasyon, ang mga nakaraang mga pinuno. So hindi naman ako nagtataka na ganun pa rin ang nangyayari sa issue na ito. At makikita natin iyan, hindi lang naman itong report, pero kahit ang ibang mga ahensiya, tila ginawang punching bag na talaga ang mga nakaraang mga pinuno natin. So, palagay ko wala namang nagulat doon,” he said. — RSJ, GMA News