SECRETARYT Francisco T. Duque III on Wednesday assailed Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta for making a circus out of the Dengvaxia mess by dragging mourning parents to court and filing charges.
He described as “baseless, malicious and counterproductive” the additional complaints against him by the Public Attorney’s Office.
“It hampers the ongoing efforts of the department to provide accessible health care to those vaccinated by Dengvaxia and the general public,” stressed Duque.
Duque said he was surprised that the PAO would go to such lengths of filing for obstruction for justice when it could easily apply for subpoena to get the dengue vaccine master list.
As a lawyer, Duque said PAO chief Acosta knew she could get the master list if she applied for a subpoena from a competent authority.
“She could easily get it from the DoJ or the NBI… In fact, we have submitted the master list to the Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Senator [Richard] Gordon after receiving a subpoena. It’s a legal requirement I am sure she is aware of,” Duque added.
Duque also clarified that the P50,000 financial assistance that would be given to families of deceased Dengvaxia recipients would come from the Office of the President.
“The Office of the President requested that the DoH draft the guidelines for the claiming of the financial assistance. The money will come from the Office of the President,” Duque explained.
“It escapes me why Atty. Acosta is questioning the goodwill of President Duterte in providing assistance to bereaved families,” he also said.
Furthermore, the health chief slammed PAO for maliciously implying he was a consultant for former secretary Janette Garin.
“I vehemently deny that I was engaged as consultant for the DoH at any time during Secretary Garin’s tenure. I accepted my designation in May 2015 long before the decision to implement the Dengvaxia immunization was made by then Secretary Garin of which at that time I was completely unaware of,” Duque said.
Duque said he was designated as head of a selection committee in good faith, and with the purest of intentions to assist the department, as a member of a collegial body, in evaluating the qualifications of its high-ranking officials.
“I want to emphasize that I did not take part in the department’s policy-making decision during the time in question,” he pointed out.
Duque was engaged by the DoH not as a consultant but as a mere resource person while he was Chairman of the Civil Service Commission in the selection process for third-level department officials.
According to the health chief, they have not yet received a copy of the complaints filed by the Public Attorney’s Office.
Based on news reports, the parents of Abbie Hedia, as assisted by PAO, filed a complaint for “obstruction of justice.”
PAO claimed the DoH had failed to turn over to PAO the masterlist of children vaccinated with Dengvaxia.
The Department has previously informed PAO that it could not share the information without a subpoena due to prohibitions of the Data Privacy Act.
“The National Privacy Commission issued Advisory Opinion 2018-007 dated Feb. 26, 2018, cautioning the Department of Health that the release of the master list of Dengvaxia recipients might be considered unauthorized,” said Duque.