Six more criminal complaints have been filed before the Department of Justice against former Health Secretary Janette Garin for the death of six more children who received the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
Public Attorney’s Ofice Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said the latest complaints arose from the deaths of Angela Palubarit, 11; Maricel Manriza, 12; John Marky Ferrer, 11; Charmel Flordeliz, 10; Jonell Dacquel, 13 and Kenchie Ocfemia, 11.
The PAO chief, who accompanied the complaints, also revealed there will be more complaints that will be filed before the DOJ.
“We have so far autopsied a total of 142 victims,” she said in an interview.
“We will file 98 more cases,” Acosta added.
She said that there are a total of 44 complaints which have been filed already before the DOJ.
Of the 44 complaints, 32 complaints composed of the first, second and third batches of cases are on the preliminary investigation stage at the DOJ.
A panel of prosecutors chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Arnold Magpantay recently concluded the preliminary investigation of the third batch of complaints.
The latest six complaints filed yesterday concerned the deaths of school children Angela Pulumbarit, Maricel Manriza, John Marky Ferrer, Charmel Flordeliz, Jonell Dacquel, and Kenchie Ocfemia.
Prior to this, the PAO also filed six other complaints which have yet to undergo preliminary investigation and concerns the deaths of Aldred Aberia, Ana Lisa Silverio, Eira Mae Galoso, Leiden Alcabasa, Riceza Salgo, and Micaella Mainit.
Under the 12 latest complaints, the respondents are accused of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code; torture resulting in the death of a person and torture committed against children under Republic Act 9745, the Anti-Torture Act of 2009; and for violating RA 7394, the Consumer Act of the Philippines, particularly, the mislabeling of drugs and devices, liability for defective products, and liability for product and service imperfection.
Garin has been impleaded as respondent in all 12 complaints, while Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is a respondent in the complaint filed by the parents of Galoso.
The others who were also named as respondents in all or some of the complaints are current and former Department of Health officials, namely, Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Irma Asuncion, Dr. Julius Lecciones, Dr. Joyce Ducusin, Dr. Herminigildo Valle, Rosalind Vianzon, and Mario Baquilod.
Also named as respondents in the complaints are Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials Dr. Maria Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio; and officials of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), namely, Drs. Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario Capeding.
The other respondents include Dr. Sonia Gonzales of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC); and Dr. Raymundo Lo, a former PCMC official.
Executives of Sanofi Pastuer and local distributor Zuellig Pharma are also included as respondents.
Sanofi Pasteur executives named as respondents are Carlito Realuyo, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali, and Marie Esther De Antoni, while those Zuellig Pharma are Kasigod Jamias, Michael Becker, Ricardo Romulo, Imran Babar Chugtai, Rayumund Azurin, Nilo Badiola, John Stokes Davison, Marc Franck, Ashley Gerard Antonio, Ana Liza Peralta, Rosa Maria Chua, Danilo Cahoy, Manuel Concio II, Roland Goco and Ma.Visitacion Barreiro.
The Public Attorney’s Office has filed six other cases of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and violation of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 against executives of the French pharmaceutical Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and its distributor Zuellig Pharma Corp., former health secretary Janette Garin, and Philippine Children’s Medical Center director Julius Lecciones before the justice department.
Acosta, however, said that they did not file a case against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
The “relatives of the six children did not include Duque since these children who died were inoculated not during his time. Nevertheless, the other previous cases, he was named as one of the respondents,” she told the Manila Standard.
“Simply put, based on the admission and declaration of respondent Sanofi Pasteur Inc., if Dengvaxia is administered to a person who has not yet contracted dengue, that person will have a greater risk of developing severe disease, which would have been otherwise gad Dengvaxia not been administered upon him (or her),” the complaint read.
To date, PAO has already filed over 40 cases before various courts.