Drilon wants zero budget for PAO forensic lab; Acosta defends self vs. vaccine scare criticisms

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Monday he will push for the removal of funds and eventual abolition of the forensic laboratory of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), even as its head, Persida Acosta parried criticisms that their findings on the alleged Dengvaxia deaths caused the vaccine scare among the people.

Drilon said what the PAO does is a duplication of the function of the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police.

“I will move that the forensic laboratory of PAO not be funded and the same be transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation, which is also an agency of the Department of Justice,” Drilon said during the finance committee hearing on the P21.7 billion proposed budget of Department of Justice for 2020.

PAO is an attached agency of the DOJ.

He said the PAO forensic laboratory is a clear duplication of the functions of the NBI and police “who have not shown to be inefficient and incompetent."

“The fact that there is a forensic laboratory (in PAO) exposes us to situation where there could be conflicting findings from two government offices,” he said.

It is the PAO forensic laboratory that conducted autopsy on children who died after allegedly being given Dengvaxia.

The senator questioned PAO chief Persida Rueda Acosta about the existence of forensic laboratory in her office when it is not included in her office’s mandate.

Acosta said they initially only have a forensic consultant since 2004 but they added staff through the years and in 2010, they inaugurated a forensic laboratory to help them in their investigations.

She said the past secretaries of the Department of Budget and Management allowed the hiring of personnel for the forensic laboratory but Drilon countered it saying the DBM cannot create an office.

“In our view, the DBM cannot create an office, it should be created by the Constitution, by authority of the law and the law here is not the General Appropriations Act, it is a substantive law,” said Drilon.

“The plantilla positions (for the forensic laboratory), in my view, is not authorized by your own charter, you cannot create an office,” he added.

Asked why PAO did not tap the services of NBI for the forensic examination, Acosta said the former Justice secretaries asked them to do it since they also have forensic consultants.

On the case of alleged Dengvaxia victims, the PAO chief said it was the parents who asked them to conduct autopsy on their children.

Drilon expressed belief that NBI can also do an impartial job.

The minority leader then asked Acosta about the public’s loss of confidence in the vaccination program of the Department of Health.

“The media accounts and the DOH has stated publicly that there was a very perceptible loss of confidence in the vaccine program of the DOH. There were 271,480 cases of dengue as of 31 August 2019 which resulted in 1,107 deaths. Likewise,  there were 477 deaths out of 32,950 cases of measles as a result of the loss of confidence in the immunization program of the DOH,” he said.

“In fact, recently,  for the first time, polio is back in the country again because of the loss of confidence in the vaccine program,” he added.

Acosta defended herself by saying that the reemergence of polio could not be attributed to the cases filed by PAO.

“Yung sinasabi na three years old sa Lanao, nung nagprescon ang Sanofi na hindi pwede sa seronegative ang Dengvaxia, November 29, 2017. Ang PAO nag start lang po na magkaso February 2018. Dapat po ang bata na ‘yan nabakunahan ‘yan nung 2-month old siya, that is early 2016,” she said.

“Wala pa pong pagkilos ang DOJ para utusan ang NBI at PAO. Ang Senate blue ribbon hearing kayo dito first week na ‘yun ng December 2017. Kaya walang kaugnayan sa outbreak na ‘yan,” she added.

“Pati ‘yang limang taon, dapat nung 2015 pa nabakunahan na ‘yung 5 years old, wala pa sa eksena ang DOJ, NBI, at PAO,” Acosta further said.

She put the blame on DOH who failed to distribute the vaccines.

“Ito yung COA report for 2017, under distribution po noong 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 ang mga bakuna, 12 po ito kasama ang measles, polio. ‘Yung polio -92% ang distribution nila, ‘yung measles -91%. Hindi ko alam kung saan nila yan  kinukuha pero maliwanag ang COA report,” she said.

Acosta lamented that she is always being blamed whenever there are children who get sick due to failure to get immunization.

“Napaka-unfair. Kapag may nagkakasakit ako ang  sinisisi nila. Hindi naman po ako ang nag hearing, Senate Blue Ribbon, kayo po yun e. Antagal ko nang hindi nag sasalita sa mga bakuna,” she said.

She added that the PAO forensic team has already autopsied 146 children who allegedly died because of Dengvaxia.

“53 lang po ang na-cover ng media, 146 na po ang naautopsy ng PAO doctors, kanina meron pang pumunta dahil namatay yung anak nila kahit nakatanggap ng tatlong doses ng Dengvaxia. Ngayon gustong ipahukay,” she said. —LDF, GMA News