FORMER Health Secretary now Iloilo Rep. Janette Loreto-Garin faces charges of graft and technical malversation before the Sandiganbayan arising from the alleged anomalous procurement of an anti-dengue vaccine from a French manufacturer in 2015.
Cited as Garin’s co-accused in the graft cases were a certain Maria Joyce U. Ducusin, Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo, former undersecretary Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go, and Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) executive director Julius Lecciones.
Technical malversation charges were also slapped against Garin, Ducusin, Hartigan-Go, and Lecciones.
Garin welcomed however, the filing of the charges. “We see this case as an opportunity to finally put an end to the longstanding issue that apparently continue to haunt us.”
“As we maintain our clear conscience and readiness to face the issues that confront us, we are confident that our sound exercise of discretion, which is backed by hard science, will disprove the allegations in the complaint filed by Atty. Glenn Chiong,” Garin said.
“We firmly believe in the principles of justice and due process which our legal system upholds. With this, we fully trust that our innocence will be duly proven and the truth will come out in due time,” she added.
The graft complaint alleged that the five accused conspired together and confederated with one another in “causing the realignment of government fund and issuance of Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) BMB-150028814 on Dec. 29, 2015 in the amount of P3,556,155,900 for the procurement of Dengvaxia vaccines and eventual implementation of the School-Based Immunization Program.”
The prosecutors asserted that the accused actions “were in open defiance of the mandate of Executive Order 49, series of 1993, DOH Administrative Orders 2012-0023, 2012-0023-A and other related issuances to the damage and prejudice of the government.”
The prosecutors also accused them for sourcing the fund from the DOH’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in the technical malversation charge.
“The said amount was instead used to purchase Dengvaxia vaccines which is not part of the EPI and not listed in Volume 1 of the Philippine National Drug Formulary or has secured an exemption from being listed in said Formulary,” the complaint for technical malversation partly read.
Procecutors recommended a P90,000-bail for each of the accused facing the graft complaint and P18,000 for each of those charged with technical malversation. The cases are set for raffle on Friday, October 27, to determine which of the anti-graft court divisions will handle the cases.