Dengvaxia-related cases must be filed before a regional trial court, and not before a metropolitan or municipal trial court, according to the Public Attorney’s Office.
PAO chief Persida Acosta reacted to the dismissal of a petition for certiorari filed against Presiding Judge Ana Florence Cuntapay-Oamil of the Municipal Trial Court of Balanga City, Bataan and the other respondents, former health secretary Janette Garin, now an Iloilo lawmaker; ex-health undersecretary Dr. Vicente Belizardo; Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go of the Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Julius Lecciones of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center; Dr. Gerardo Bayugo; Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy; Dr. Irma Asuncion; Dr. Rosalin Vianzon; Dr. Mario Baquilod; Maria Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio of FDA; Dr. Socorro Lupisaj and Dr. Maria Rosario Capeding of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Carlito Realuto, Stanilas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean Francois Vacherrano, Conchita Sanyltis and Jazelle Ann Calvo of Sanofi Pasteur Inc., all respondents in crime of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide under Article 365 in relation to Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code.
The judge earlier dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction and also junked the investigating prosecutor’s motion for reconsideration, prompting them to file a petition for certiorari before Judge Philger Noel Inovejas.
Earlier, Acosta urged the Supreme Court to designate special courts to litigate civil and criminal cases over the deaths of children inoculated with the Dengvaxia vaccine to expedite the resolution of cases.
PAO has filed criminal and civil cases before the Department of Justice and various regional trial courts.
In November 2017, Sanofi in a statement said “Dengvaxia provides persistent protective benefits against dengue fever in those who had prior infection. For those not previously infected by dengue virus, however… more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection.”
In April 2016, the Department of Health under Garin launched the P3.5-billion mass dengue vaccination in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.
More than 830,000 students and even policemen received the vaccine.
