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Gordon: Report on Dengvaxia mess now signed by 14 senators


Fourteen senators have already signed the draft report of the blue ribbon committee on the Dengvaxia controversy, Senator Richard Gordon said Friday.

Gordon said the committee findings may already be discussed on the Senate floor when the session resumed in May.

“I recognize that not all of my colleagues agree with the report but I am willing to debate and discuss it on the floor," Gordon said.

"And we can move forward by ensuring that something will be done for the people who were vaccinated and also seeing to it that accountability will be exacted to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future,” he added.

Aside from Gordon, others who signed the draft report were Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III; Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito, health committee chairman; Gregorio Honasan II, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay,  Sherwin Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Francis Escudero, Manny Pacquiao, Ralph Recto, Cynthia Villar, and Loren Legarda.

Ejercito, Angara, Gatchalian, Escudero, Poe have signed the report with reservations particularly on the part stating that former President Beningo Aquino III is criminally liable for the procurement and use of Dengvaxia.

Binay earlier said she signed the report but she intends to interpellate and propose amendments.

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Aquino's party mate in the Liberal Party, has opposed the blue ribbon report saying there was no conclusive scientific evidence to support the conclusion that any of the reported deaths were in any way connected to Dengvaxia as he pressed for the matter to be studied by qualified pathologists.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said he will not sign the blue ribbon committee's report on the Dengvaxia controversy following Senator Richard Gordon's "unreasonable statements.”

He earlier said he finds it difficult to believe that Aquino is capable of graft and corruption having worked with the former President both in the Senate and Malacañang.

Senator Antonio Trillanes, on the other hand, described Gordon’s report as a publicity stunt and said it would not stand the scrutiny on the Senate floor.

In presenting the draft report, Gordon said Aquino, former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, former Health secretary Janette Garin, and other officials are "primary conspirators" and must be held criminally liable for "all the tragedy, damage, and possible deaths" resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program.

He added that Aquino, Garin, Abad and other government officials should be investigated and prosecuted for graft and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

One of the recommendations in the report was to provide sufficient budget for monitoring - in particular sero-testing to determine who were previously seronegative - diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of ALL children injected with Dengvaxia.  It also proposed to authorize the allocation of a portion of the P1.2-billion refunded by Sanofi Pasteur for unused vaccines for such.

“While I don’t mean any ill to anyone, the purpose of the investigation was to find out the truth behind the incident which placed the lives of more than 830,000 children in danger. We want to seek justice for these children and protect them. The Department of Health, as the sentinel of public health, must not be used for political ends,” said Gordon. —NB, GMA News

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