SMABD eyes lawsuit vs. prosecutors

The parents belonging to the Samahan ng mga Magulang, Anak at Biktima ng Dengvaxia (SMABD) have threatened to file a disbarment petition should state prosecutors continue to file criminal complaints with the metropolitan trial courts (MeTCs), instead with the Supreme Court-designated Quezon City Regional Trial.

SMABD members assailed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Prosecutors Service (NPS) and said state prosecutors could face a disbarment case for ignoring the Aug. 27, 2020 resolution of the High Court through Division Clerk of Court Librada Buena granting the petition of the parents to transfer the venue of all Dengvaxia-related cases to a family court in Quezon City.

“We are not intimidated. We may be poor but we are not ignorant (of the law),” Ian Colite of Imus City, Cavite said.
The death of Colite’s son, Zandro, was linked to the Dengvaxia vaccine.

Zandro was one of more than 830,000 students who received the vaccine between 2016 and 2017 under the Department of Health’s mass vaccination program against dengue infection.

Sumachen Dominguez, SMABD president, slammed the NPS for the dismissal of the reckless imprudence resulting in physical injury complaint she filed against ex-health secretary Janette Garin, and active and former officials of the Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine before the Department of Justice.

“Must my child die so that my complaint prosper?” she asked.

Earlier, the Public Attorney’s Office said the DOJ prosecutors could contempt of court.

“But we do not want to file (a complaint) anymore,” it said.

On Nov. 29, 2017, Sanofi Pasteur Inc., the vaccine manufacturer, posted on its website that “Fort those not previously infected by dengue virus, however, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection.”