FORMER President Benigno Aquino III and two of his former Cabinet members have been asked to attend a preliminary probe on March 15 on the complaints filed with the Commission on Elections in connection with the controversial anti-dengue program implemented by the government during the May 2016 election period.
Aquino and two former secretaries—Florencio Abad (Budget and Management) and Janette Garin (Health)—were called by the Comelec Law Division Office to attend the hearing of the election-related case filed by two physicians and members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.
Several current Department of Health officials were also included in the 10-page complaint filed last Feb. 2.
“It’s confirmed that the Comelec ([Law Department] has subpoenaed ex-Pres. B.S. Aquino III and former Cabinet members Florencio Abad and Janette Garin to appear and to swear to their counter affidavits on March 15, 2018 at 10:00 in the morning,” said VACC legal counsel Manny Luna in a text message.
“This means that the complaints brought by doctors Francisco Cruz and Clarito Cairo and the VACC are prima facie meritorious and could proceed for determination of probable [cause]. This is significant and an important first step in the public’s quest for truth and justice. We are thankful to the Comelec for seeing merit, albeit preliminary, in the complaints,” he added.
The complaints stated that the respondents violated Section 261 (o) and (v) of Batas Pambansa 881 (Omnibus Election Code), prohibiting the release and use of government funds for election campaign within 45 days before a regular election or 30 days before a special election.
It also stated that “Aquino III, Abad and Garin had caused the releases, disbursements or expenditures of over P3.5 billion in public funds in connection with the procurement of the Dengvaxia vaccine and implementation of the School-Based Immunization of Tetravalent Dengue Vaccine of the Department of Health [or Dengue Immunization Program] in the National Capital Region [NCR], Calabarzon [Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon] and Central Luzon during 45 days before the May 2016 elections …”
The current DoH officials were included in the complaint “for being involved, directly or indirectly, in the first round of implementation of the Dengue Immunization Program on April 4, 2016 or during the election ban.”