THE Court of Appeals has reaffirmed its previous decision favoring the ruling of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court that consolidated the Dengvaxia civil cases into one family court.
The CA’s former Special Seventh Division, in a July 16 resolution a copy of which was obtained by the Manila Standard, dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by Dengvaxia distributor Zuellig Pharma Corp. and manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. while sustaining at the same time its Nov. 25, 2024 decision.
“Upon careful review, we find that the arguments and issues by Zuellig in its motion for reconsideration are mere rehash of the very same arguments and issues that have already been settled and resolved in the decision dated Nov. 25, 2025 being sought to be reconsidered,” the resolution stated, penned by Associate Justice Mary Charlene Hernandez-Azura.
Associate Justices Emily Alino-Geluz and Roberto Quiroz concurred with the resolution.
Petitioners Zuellig and Sanofi sought the appellate court’s ruling as they questioned the decision of the RTC consolidating the cases of heirs Ian Colite and Ariel Hedia, asserting that the requirements for consolidation were not present, and that consolidation would be prejudicial to their rights.
“All told, public respondent (RTC Branch 230) did not commit grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it issued the assailed orders (consolidation of cases),” the appellate court’s previous ruling read.
The CA justices explained that the purpose of the consolidation was to avoid multiplicity of suits, guard against oppression and abuse, prevent delays, clear congested dockets, and simplify the work of the trial court.
“In short, consolidation aims to attain justice with the least expense and vexation to the parties-litigants,” the new order stated.
“All the cases are intimately related as they involve the alleged irregular procurement of the Dengvaxia vaccine and its eventual alleged improper implementation during the Dengvaxia immunization program by the DOH (Department of Health), the alleged negligence of the defendants and petitioners relative to its registration, purchase and subsequent administration of the Dengvaxia vaccine,” it added.
The Public Attorney’s Office handling the civil cases filed by the kin of school children whose deaths were linked to the Dengvaxia vaccine hailed the latest CA’s resolution.
“We just hope that this would signal the continuation on the trial of the much-delayed cases because the grieving parents have been long deprived of justice for several years now,” PAO chief Persida Acosta said.
In November 2016, Sanofi posted on its official website that dengue-naive people who received the vaccine could be vulnerable to more severe infections.
The DOH procured the vaccines for P3.5 billion in 2015 for the school-based mass vaccination of children in 2016 until 2017.
