No need to reinvestigate Dengvaxia case – Martires

MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Samuel Martires is not keen on conducting a reinvestigation of the controversial Dengvaxia mass vaccination program, maintaining that all the respondents in the complaint – including former health secretary Janette Garin – were given ample opportunity to answer the allegations against them.

In a phone interview with The STAR, Martires said the Dengvaxia case had undergone an extensive investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s panel of prosecutors.

“There is no need to conduct another investigation because this case underwent an investigation by the DOJ panel of state prosecutors. (The respondents) submitted their answers or affidavits before the DOJ, which were duly considered by the DOJ prosecutors and by the ombudsman review panel,” Martires said in a mix of English and Filipino.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Garin said she would file a motion for reinvestigation before the ombudsman, claiming that she and the other respondents “were deprived of our constitutional right to procedural due process.”

Garin said she did not receive any official notice from the ombudsman to respond to a pending complaint against her.

Martires explained that the affidavits submitted by Garin and the other respondents before the DOJ panel of state prosecutors were treated as their testimonies.

Martires cited the 2012 memorandum of agreement between the ombudsman and the DOJ. Under the MOA, the DOJ would transmit its investigation report or resolution to the ombudsman for the latter’s review and approval if the case to be prosecuted falls within the jurisdiction of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

“We examined the DOJ prosecutors’ report, which was for review and approval of the ombudsman,” Martires said.

Martires created the ombudsman panel this year to review the DOJ panel’s June 30, 2021 resolution recommending the filing of graft charges against Garin and former budget secretary Florencio Abad.

In its resolution, the ombudsman panel agreed with DOJ prosecutors that there is probable cause to charge Garin with violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the anti-graft law.

Also recommended by the ombudsman panel to be charged with graft were then Department of Health officer-in-charge director Maria Joyce Ducusin, DOH undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo and former DOH undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go as well as Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones.

Except for Bayugo, Garin and the three other officials were also recommended to be charged with technical malversation under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code.

The ombudsman panel did not find sufficient evidence or probable cause to charge Abad and the late president Benigno Aquino III.

Martires said Garin may file a motion for reconsideration on the resolution of the ombudsman’s review panel.

“We are open to the motion that Garin and the other respondents may file. We may hold off the filing of the cases (in court) temporarily to accommodate their motions, but they must file them immediately,” Martires said.

The complaint stemmed from the Aquino administration’s purchase of P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia dengue vaccines manufactured by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur and distributed locally by Zuellig Pharma.

The vaccines were administered to about 800,000 public school students aged nine years and above in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Calabarzon starting in April 2016.

The DOH suspended the mass immunization program on Dec. 1, 2017, a day after Sanofi Pasteur disclosed that Dengvaxia poses a risk of severe symptoms to those who had not contracted dengue before being inoculated.