Comelec summons Benigno Aquino III over vaccination case

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Benigno Aquino III and two of his Cabinet officials were ordered to appear at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on March 15 to answer why they should not be charged for launching the anti-dengue campaign just a few weeks before the May 2016 elections.

In a subpoena, Comelec law department director Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal directed Aquino, former budget secretary Florencio Abad and former health secretary Janette Garin to appear for a preliminary hearing and to submit their counter-affidavits.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, represented by Francis Cruz, charged the three for election related offenses, including the disbursement of funds 45 days before a regular election.

“You are hereby warned that failure on your part to comply with the subpoena shall be considered as waiver of your right to present your defense and the case shall be considered submitted for resolution based on the evidence on record... Fail not under the penalty of law,” the Feb. 19 subpoena stated. 

Manny Luna, VACC legal counsel, is confident they have a strong case against the officials. 

“The fact that the complaint was not dismissed outright, there is sufficient basis to proceed. But of course, probable cause is a different issue. This will now depend on the counter-affidavit they will submit,” Luna said.

Aside from the three, Comelec also ordered the other respondents from the Department of Health –undersecretaries Carol Tanio, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago; and directors Laureano Cruz, Joyce Ducusin and Mar Wynne Bello – to appear on March 8 and submit their counter-affidavit.

Complainants Cruz and Clarito Cairo Jr. were also ordered to appear on March 8, 9 and 15.  

Form a team

Several administration and opposition congressmen have called on President Duterte to form a single team that would look into the death of at least 14 schoolchildren who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said having one investigation team would clear up the confusion that the separate probes done by the Department of Health (DOH), Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have created.         

“There is so much confusion and hysteria over Dengvaxia and the vaccination program. Many parents are so afraid of the dengue vaccine that they ask their children to stay away from any vaccination,” he stressed.

He added that unless the President directly intervenes, the investigating agencies would not work together.

“The PAO and its high-profile chief Persida Acosta have refused to cooperate with the DOH because they suspect certain health officials of protecting Dengvaxia maker Sanofi,” Albano said.

Opposition Rep. Gary Alejano shared Albano’s call for presidential intervention, saying Duterte should conciliate the quarreling agencies.

He lamented that at present, there is “no coordinated effort on the part of the government to find out the truth and provide the people accurate information.”

“While there is no conclusion reached yet, speculative statements from various talking heads are only creating undue panic and hysteria not only to the parents of those who received the vaccines but also to all other parents,” Alejano pointed out.

He warned Duterte that the quarrel “may have disastrous consequences as it affects the trust and confidence of parents in the government’s vaccination program which could later lead to outbreak of diseases.”

Administration Rep. Alfred Vargas of Quezon City urged the agencies to cooperate with each other as their conflicting pronouncements have “caused a decline in children’s vaccinations against other diseases such as flu, polio and measles, with doctors saying that parents refuse vaccines due to the Dengvaxia scare.”              

PAO is linking all the 14 deaths to the dengue vaccine, while a team of pathologists formed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said based on their initial study, only three could be related to vaccination, though their findings were not yet conclusive.        

He claimed that the DOH team of pathologists is the only probe panel that has the expertise to determine the cause of death of the children.

Team member Juliet So-Aguilar of the Philippine General Hospital claimed that there was no evidence yet linking any of the deaths to Dengvaxia. She also alleged that nine of the 14 children died of other causes not related at all to the vaccination.

To avoid doubts on the veracity of the findings of the investigating agencies, Albano suggested that the DOH and DOJ hire pathologists from private hospitals instead. 

DOH response 

Meanwhile, Duque will sign next week a memorandum of agreement with private and public hospital administrators to strengthen the government’s response to the Dengvaxia vaccine fiasco. 

The agreement – to be entered with the Philippine Medical Association, Philippine Hospitals Association, Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, and Association of Hospital Administrators on March 6 – aims to ensure that adequate medical attention would be given to vaccinated children who visit health facilities. 

This scheme, Duque said, is part of the interim guidelines on patient care the Department of Health formulated to address the impact of Dengvaxia on vaccinees. 

Under the agreement, the DOH will make sure that hospitals will implement the “no balance billing” policy by utilizing the subsidy given by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. The hospital expenses that will exceed the subsidy shall be reimbursed through the DOH’s medical assistance program. 

“Hospitals shall also set up Dengvaxia triaging and one-stop shop or an express lane to prioritize Dengvaxia patients, whatever symptoms they might have,” Duque told reporters on the sidelines of his visit at the San Lazaro Hospital, where he inspected the conditions of several patients.

Duque also visited the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, which also has patients who were given Dengvaxia and subsequently fell ill.            

Among the patients was 11-year-old Angelianne Bernardino, who was vaccinated with Dengvaxia in September 2017 at the Juliever Academy in Valenzuela City. She was rushed to hospital the other week after developing fever and suffering nosebleed. 

Bernardino never had dengue prior to vaccination.  

More than 800,000 public schoolchildren were vaccinated with Dengvaxia during the administration of former president Aquino. – With Jess Diaz

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