Cevu City—Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta on Wednesday lauded the Court of Appeals (CA) for the dismissal of a motion to quash the criminal charges filed against the former chief of the Department of Health’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in connection with the Dengvaxia-related death of a boy in 2017.
Acosta, in an interview, told the Manila Standard that the motion to dismiss filed by the petitioner Dr. Socorro Lupisan could weaken the case at bar filed with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 13 against ex-health secretary Janette Garin and 38 others. Rio N. Araja
Associate Justice Marlene Gonzales-Sison, the appellate court’s Seventh Division chairperson, in an eight-page decision, said Lupisan’s motion was not meritorious.
Ian Colite through PAO told the CA that he and the other complainants were able to state their cause of action well why Lupisan and the other accused must be held liable for the deaths of their children after receiving the Dengvaxia jabs.
He is the father of Zandro who died on Dec. 27, 2017 due to alleged complications of the Dengvaxia vaccine,
On Jan. 10, 2019, Lupisan filed a motion to dismiss the case filed before Quezon City Judge Maria Gilda Loja-Pangilinan on the grounds that the complaint failed to state a cause of action, and that judge committed grave abuse.
On Jan. 22, 2021, the judge denied Lupisan’s motion for reconsideration, prompting her to elevate the petition before the CA.
“The petition for certiorari is not applicable in this case since there was no abuse of discretion on the part of the public respondent (Loja-Pangilinan),” the appellate court’s decision read.
In another development, Branch 13 Judge Lily Ann Padaen has already inhibited herself from the litigation of eight counts of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against former DOH chief Janette Garin and 38 other respondents.
On Feb. 28, Ramil Pestilos, Liza Maquilan, Elena Baldonado, Ariel Hedia, Colite, Analyn Ebona, Almer Bautista, Darwin Bataan and Merly Bataan, whose children’s deaths were linked to the Dengvaxia vaccine, through the Quezon City prosecutors, filed an inhibition petition against Padaen.