Former Health secretary Janette Garin and several others on Monday asked the Department of Justice to dismiss the criminal charges filed against them by the parents and relatives of several children who were believed to have died of complication after being inoculated with the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine.
Garin, along with former health secretary Francisco Duque III and 38 others are facing complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code; torture resulting in the death of a person and the torture of a child under Republic Act No. 9745, also known as the Act Penalizing Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment; obstruction of justice under Section 1(b) of Presidential Decree No. 1829; and violation of Section 3 of RA 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
During the continuation of the preliminary investigation, Garin filed her counter-affidavit seeking the dismissal of the complaint for lack of probable cause and for insufficiency of evidence.
“Contrary to the malicious, twisted and baseless accusations of the complainants and the corresponding report and recommendation memorandum [Public Attorney’s Office Report and Memorandum], the Dengue Immunization Program was implemented after a thorough evaluation process as to its necessity and urgency, as well as the readiness of the government to undertake the same,” Garin stressed.
“The decision was backed up with studies that date back to several years, conducted by private and public institutions, both locally and internationally,” she said.
Garin also denied that the program was implemented with undue haste since it was implemented in April 2016, just a month before the May presidential elections.
“In implementing the Dengue Immunization Program, we have always acted with the best interest of the people and the government in mind and exercised the diligence required of us as administration of public health; all this while taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances and all the information available to us at the tie,” she stressed.
She maintained she could not be held liable for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide considering the procurement of Dengvaxia underwent the thorough process and that its supposed “theoretical” risks were not yet supported by any data at the time of its implementation.
Besides, she said, there was no basis for PAO, which represents the complainants, that she “maliciously and arbitrarily” failed to inform the public of the dangers and risks related to the vaccine.
According to her, the DoH also issued clear and specific guidelines for the implementation of the school-based immunization program, contrary to PAO’s claim that the DoH during her term failed to conduct proper screening of Dengvaxia recipients and other relevant tests to determine whether the children may be inoculated with the vaccine.
“In fact, there were students whose immunization was deferred because of existing conditions like a fever. This goes to show that the required diligence was observed and nothing was done in haste in the implementation of the dengue immunization program,” Garin said.