Former president Aquino decries harassment in election offense case

MANILA, Philippines (Updated on 5:03 p.m.) — Former president Benigno Aquino III yesterday sought the junking of the electioneering complaint lodged against him before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in connection with the Dengvaxia controversy, saying it was pure harassment.

Aquino and his health secretary Janette Garin, accompanied by their counsels, submitted to the Comelec Law Department their respective counter-affidavits as required by a subpoena issued to them to answer the allegations of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.

“This complaint is based on imagination and wrong intention. It is clear that this failed the standards of the law and truth,” Aquino stressed in a press conference with Garin after filing their counter-affidavits.

“It is also clear that this kind of complaint should go directly to the trash bin. I am hopeful that the Comelec will do the right thing and dismiss the complaint the soonest possible time,” Aquino said, noting that reading the complaint against him made him “dizzy.”

Aquino said the complaint was baseless and senseless because the VACC failed to specify his violations and the provisions of election laws that he supposedly violated.

Contrary to the claim of the VACC, Aquino said the purchase order for Dengvaxia was signed on March 9, 2016 or more than two weeks before start of election ban on March 25, 2016.

On Friday, Aquino said as “president I never sign such” as The STAR earlier reported that he signed the purchase order.

“It is the implementing agency that does it,” he said, referring to the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

“What I signed was the authorization for the use of savings. That was done on Dec. 29, 2015,” Aquino said.

On Thursday at the Comelec, he further noted that they did not ask for exemption from the Comelec mainly because the election ban had not yet started then.

Garin said the Department of Health (DOH) also consulted the Comelec and they were told that public health programs like immunization were exempted from the ban.

Aquino maintained he did not do anything wrong and just performed his duty to protect the people from the threats of dengue.

“The job of protecting the people’s health cannot be held in abeyance by elections,” Aquino said, citing safeguards in the Omnibus Election Code like the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s use of funds in times of calamity despite the polls.

“So it doesn’t stop because it is an election period,” Aquino said.

Garin also insisted that the dengue immunization program was purely a health issue.

“There was absolutely no politics involved in the school-based dengue immunization program,” Garin said.

Garin said the recepients of the program were not voters and could not sway election results.

Three regions were selected for the immunization program because these areas have high cases of dengue and not for political reasons, Aquino said.

The former president further noted the Liberal Party candidates in those three regions lost in the elections.

Elected officials like the president and Cabinet members, he said, are likewise excluded from prohibition against partisan political activities.

“Elected officials by nature of their office engage in partisan political activities almost all year round outside the election period,” he explained.

Attention seekers

Aquino said even the yellow shirts they wore were made an issue and that the VACC members were obviously out to get attention at their expense.

“I don’t think there was any streamer, poster, any campaign material whatsoever saying this was brought to you by any candidate,” the former president said, referring to the program’s implementation. 

“It seems that some are correct in saying that the end goal for this is not to obtain justice, but rather get attention in order to be appointed to office,” Aquino said.

Asked who he was referring to, Aquino did not mince words in identifying members of the VACC.

“Please tell me, how many VACC members have been appointed already?” Aquino asked.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, it is prohibited to release, disburse or spend public funds for any public official or employee, including barangay officials and those of government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, 45 days before a regular election.  

The poll body, however, grants exemption to specific projects during the election ban when requested by concerned agencies.

Showing a graph, Aquino said he acted on the figures presented to him showing an alarming surge in the number of dengue cases since there were funds and the vaccine was already available in the market.

Aquino said he could no longer count the number of cases being filed against him by the VACC, which he said were all baseless and senseless.

VACC said they are now readying administrative charges against Aquino and 16 other public officials for allegedly conspiring in implementing the immunization program. Aquino said the proper venue for the filing of complaint against him is the Office of the Ombudsman and not other government agencies.

Aquino reiterated he was not the one responsible for the public scare created by the Dengvaxia controversy but those who blew the statements of French manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur out of proportion.

Sanofi said the vaccine was not recommended for those who never had dengue yet but some sectors interpreted Sanofi’s warnings as fatal due to severe dengue and other ailments that Dengvaxia use might cause as mentioned by the manufacturer.

No deaths have been directly linked to the vaccine although there have been allegations that it resulted in illnesses and casualties.

Malacanang, through presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr., said it would be up to the Comelec to decide on the matter.

“We leave this matter to the Comelec because under the Constitution, it is the Comelec that has supervision and control over all election-related activities, including the power to conduct preliminary investigation for election offenses,” Roque said.

For his part, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III questioned the timing of the anti-dengue program of Aquino and his administration.

Duque made the statement in Malabon yesterday when he inspected the dengue lane at San Lorenzo Ruiz Women’s Hospital as Aquino and Garin answered the complaint against them at the Comelec.

Based on the findings of the Senate investigation into the program, Duque said he agreed that the immunization program using Dengvaxia was done in haste.

“Whether there was actual violation of procurement law, that is up for the disciplining authorities or other investigating bodies to find out,” Duque said.

Duque said the previous administration should have been more “prudent” in implementing the immunization program during an election year.?“I don’t want to second guess what’s in the mind of then-president Aquino, but the timing should have been more prudent in the immunization implementation,” Duque said.

He declined to comment on the findings of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee headed by Sen. Richard Gordon recommending the filing of various charges against Aquino, Garin and former budget secretary Florencio Abad in connection with the Dengvaxia controversy. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Christina Mendez