Sandigan upholds Dengvaxia raps vs Garin, 4 others

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has denied motions to dismiss filed by former health secretary Janette Garin and four former and incumbent officials over the allegedly anomalous P3.556-billion dengue mass vaccination program of the Aquino administration from 2010 to 2016.

In a resolution promulgated on Jan. 10, the anti-graft court’s Second Division said that graft and technical malversation cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Garin and co-accused in October last year are “sufficient” in form and substance, contrary to their claim that facts charged in case information sheets, or charge sheets, do not constitute an offense.

Garin, now Iloilo 1st district representative, and co-accused argued that a complaint regarding the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program was filed on Feb. 13, 2015, but the ombudsman only issued its resolution finding probable cause to charge them in court on Aug. 23, 2023.

Cases were formally filed before the Sandiganbayan on Oct. 24, 2023, so Garin and co-accused said the ombudsman committed an “inordinate delay” of more than five years.

“The Court finds that the length of time spent by both the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the Office of the Ombudsman before issuing the resolutions that culminated in the filing of the cases in court is reasonable and acceptable. The Court rules that the investigations were not attended by vexatious, capricious and oppressive delays,” the resolution read.

The anti-graft court also denied motions to dismiss or quash filed by Department of Health Supply Chain Management Service director Maria Joyce Ducusin, former DOH undersecretaries Gerardo Bayugo and Kenneth Hartigan-Go and Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones.

Garin, Ducusin, Bayugo and Hartigan-Go were charged by the ombudsman with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Except for Bayugo, Garin and co-accused were also charged with illegal use of public funds, or technical malversation, under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code.

The criminal cases stemmed from the Aquino administration’s purchase of P3.556 billion worth of dengue vaccines manufactured by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur and distributed locally by Zuellig Pharma.

The mass immunization program – with vaccines administered in 2016 to about 800,000 public school students aged nine and above – had to be suspended a day after Sanofi Pasteur disclosed that Dengvaxia poses risk of severe symptoms to those who had not been previously afflicted with dengue.