Former President Benigno Aquino III, along with two members of his Cabinet and 41 other respondents have been ordered to answer the criminal charges filed against them in connection with the deaths of school children inoculated with the controversial anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine, which was implemented during his administration.
During the preliminary investigation hearing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice required Aquino, former Health secretary Janette Garin and Florencio Abad and other respondents to appear in the next hearing set on June 4 to answer the complaint filed by anti-corruption groups Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. last February.
The DoJ’s panel of prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rossane Balauag directed the respondents to submit their respective counter-affidavits to charges of multiple homicide and physical injuries under the Revised Penal Code, malversation of public funds, and violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and R.A. 9184, otherwise known as Government Procurement Reform Act.
The former leader did not show up during the hearing, but sent lawyer Mildred Umali, who received copy of the complaint and supporting evidence submitted by VACC and VPCI. Garin and Abad also skipped the hearing.
The other respondents include incumbent DoH undersecretaries Carol Tanio, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; former retired undersecretaries Nemesio Gako, Vicente Belizario Jr. and Kenneth Hartigan-Go; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago; former financial management service director Laureano Cruz; incumbent DoH directors Joyce Ducusin, May Wynn Belo, Leonila Gorgolon, Rio Magpantay, Ariel Valencia and Julius Lecciones; and Garin’s former executive assistant Yolanda Oliveros.
Executives of Sanofi are also listed in the charge sheet—Carlito Realuyo, Sanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali and Marie Esther De Antoni.
The officers of Zuellig who were likewise charged are Kasigod Jamias, Michael Becker, Ricardo Romulo, Imran Babar Chugtai, Raymund Azurin, Nilo Badiola, John Stokes Davison, Marc Franck, Ashley Gerard Antonio, Ana Liza Peralta, Rosa Maria Chua, Danilo Cahoy, Manuel Concio III, Roland Goco and Ma. Visitacion Barreiro.
The complainants accused Aquino and the other respondents of criminal negligence, alleging that the correlation between deaths of students and the vaccine has been established.
The complainants said the respondents should be liable under these laws after they “anomalously and illegally funded and procured the Dengvaxia vaccine and ill-advisedly, thoughtlessly and imprudently implemented the dengue immunization” project of the DOH.
The VACC and VPCI explained that the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine was approved by Aquino and Abad even if the program had no allocation in the 2016 national budget.
Meanwhile, a separate panel of prosecutors chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Emilia Victoria also started yesterday the preliminary investigation on criminal charges against Garin and other incumbent and former health officials filed by families of students who died from Dengvaxia.
Garin and other respondents, including incumbent Department of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III, did not appear in the separate hearing, prompting the panel to reset the hearing for May 24.
The respondents will receive copies of the complaints and evidence submitted by the Public Attorney’s Office for the nine students after getting the controversial vaccine.
The nine separate complaints were filed by parents of Aejay Bautista, Angelica Pestilos, Lenard Baldonado, Zandro Colite, Abbie Hedia, Jansyn Bataan, Mark Axel Ebonia, Rey Justin Almagno and Alexander Jaime – all schoolchildren who died allegedly due to multiple organ failure after getting Dengvaxia shots.
Duque was named respondents in the cases of Bataan and Hedia because it was during his tenure in the Department of Health when the two victims died. Bataan died last January while Hedia last February.
Separate charge of obstruction of justice was also filed against the incumbent DOH chief for his supposed refusal to share the master list of children inoculated with Dengvaxia and also for issuing orders that further prevented PAO from effectively investigating the cases of deaths.