Ubial flip-flopped on Dengvaxia safety, Cebu solon says

House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia on Friday denied former Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial’s claim that the congresswoman tried to pressure her into expanding the dengue vaccination program to her constituency in Cebu.

Ubial, who was rejected by the bicameral Commission on Appointments months back, had blamed her opposition to the implementation of the Dengvaxia-based immunization program for her rejection by lawmakers in the CA.

The representative of Cebu's third district said she was merely doing her job during the budget deliberations when she pushed for the expansion of the vaccination program to her province.

“Kung ipahinto mo ‘yan, are you not wasting funds? Hindi ba masasayang ito, and hindi maibigyan ng chance or opportunity ‘yung mga kabataan namin whose parents would not otherwise be able to afford [the vaccine]? Hindi nila makakaya yung P3,600 or P4,000 per dose,” Garcia said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

Ubial on Thursday told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that several House members, including Garcia and Iloilo 1st District Representative Oscar Garin, Jr., pressured her to expand the dengue vaccination program to Central Visayas.

The congressman is the husband of Janette Garin, her predecessor at the DOH. It was during Garin's term that controversial dengue vaccine was purchased.

Garcia accused Ubial of changing her mind as regards the wisdom of the implementation of the dengue vaccination program.

Garcia claimed Ubial was for the dengue vaccine even before she was DOH chief, but eventually signed a resolution citing “another panel of experts” that recommended that the program be put on hold.

This “flip-flopping” made Garcia question whether government funds were being spent “wisely and judiciously,” she said.

“Papano, kung i-hold mo ito, anong mangyayari doon sa perang naigasta na, na wala ka namang clear and unequivocal statement na this is dangerous...na baka harmful yan sa kabataan,” she said in the interview.

The congresswoman eventually accused the former health chief of “looking for other people to blame” now she is being dragged into the Dengvaxia controversy.

“Sana hindi niya paghanapan ng, shall we say, excuse, ‘yung kanyang pag-flip-flop, paiba-iba ng isip, because I think, alam mo Orly, kung Secretary of Health ka, at talagang ‘yun ang paninindigan mo, buhay ng bata yung nasa kamay mo eh,” she said.

“Siguro hindi naman yan acceptable na ‘pressure[d] lang ako kaya I agreed to the vaccine’. Even before she became Secretary she was already endorsing that. Eh ngayon, nag-iba yung isip niya...ano ba talaga ang stand niya, and now na naiipit siya, she’s looking for other people to blame,” she added. —NB, GMA News