JV: Ex-Cabinet members, not Aquino, are ‘primary conspirators’ of Dengvaxia mess

MANILA, Philippines — While he believes that former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is guilty of negligence, Sen. JV Ejercito stressed that it is his two Cabinet members who should be primarily held liable for the Dengvaxia fiasco.

The chair of the health committee made this statement a day after the blue ribbon committee chair Sen. Richard Gordon released a draft report recommending the filing of charges against Aquino, former health secretary Janette Garin and former budget chief Florencio Abad.

“PNoy should have exercised more prudence and oversight instead of allowing Garin and Abad to proceed with the purchase of the controversial vaccine,” Ejercito said.

READ: Senate blue ribbon on Dengvaxia mess: Aquino simply did not care

But for Ejercito, Garin and Abad were the “principal conspirators” in the procurement of the vaccine and the implementation of the immunization program.

“Sec. Garin was the one who recommended the purchase of P3.5 billion untested vaccine. The purchase was pushed despite the fact that the clinical trials were not yet finished and ignored warnings by some experts as to its dangers,” he said.

The senator added: “Sec. Abad, on the other, hand facilitated, recommended and approved the release of the money without congressional approval in amazing record time and during a holiday period at that!”

On Dec. 10, 2015, Garin submitted a proposal to the Department of Budget and Management for the procurement of three million doses of dengue vaccine.

DBM issued the Special Allotment Release Order to the DOH to cover the procurement of the dengue vaccine on Dec. 29, 2015.

The government kicked off its P3.5 billion school-based dengue immunization program on April 4, 2016.

The former health chief earlier said that the purchase of Dengvaxia was not hastily done, adding that the decision to procure the dengue vaccine was “based on the data available at the time.”

More than 830,000 people have been vaccinated with Dengvaxia since it was launched during the term of Garin.