The Department of Justice will start today (Tuesday) its preliminary investigation on the criminal charges against former Health secretary Janette Garin and other incumbent and former Health officials filed by families of students who allegedly died after being inoculated with the controversial anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine.
The DOJ’s investigating prosecutors lead by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rossane Balauag have summoned Garin and other respondents, including incumbent Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, to appear during the hearing and answer the complaints filed by the families of at least nine victims.
The DOJ panel ordered Garin and Duque and other respondents to submit their counter-affidavits on charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and obstruction of justice under the Revised Penal Code.
Assisted by the Public Attorney’s Office, nine separate complaints were filed by the parents of Aejay Bautista, Angelica Pestilos, Lenard Baldonado, Zandro Colite, Abbie Hedia, Jansyn Bataan, Mark Axel Ebonia, Rey Justin Almagno and Alexander Jaime—schoolchildren who died allegedly due to multiple organ failure after getting Dengvaxia shots.
The complainants sought the indictment of Garin, Duque and 34 others—including executives and officers of manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and distributor Zuellig Pharma Corp.
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 in January while Hedia in February.
A 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.
Named respondents along with Garin are nine other DOH officials – Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr., Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-go, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Irma Asuncion, Dr. Julius Lecciones, Dr. Joyce Ducusin, Rosalind Vianzon, and Mario Baquilod, along with Drs. Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario Capeding of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
The executives of Sanofi named in the complaints are 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 in the charge sheet, on the other hand, 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.
Aside from the criminal complaints, the PAO has already filed several civil suits before the Quezon City regional trial court.
The PAO, which was tapped by the Department of Justice to conduct fact-finding investigation and build cases against those liable for the Dengvaxia anomaly, has documented 47 deaths allegedly caused by the anti-dengue vaccine so far.
Apart from the complaints filed by PAO, the same DOJ panel will also hear today the complaint filed anti-corruption groups Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. (VPCI) last Feb. that included former President Benigno Aquino III and former budget secretary Florencio Abad as respondents.
Aquino and Abad were also required to appear in today's hearing and submit their counter-affidavits.
The VACC complaint involved 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 the “Government Procurement Reform Act.”