More vaccine raps filed vs Garin, DOH execs

MANILA, Philippines — Criminal charges against former health secretary Janette Garin and other former and incumbent health officials are mounting as another family filed a complaint at the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday.

The parents of 13-year-old Jansyn Bataan sought the indictment of Garin, incumbent health secretary Francisco Duque III and 34 others – including executives and officers of manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and distributor Zuellig Pharma Corp. – for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code.

Bataan, from Caloocan City, was among those who were injected with the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia. His family’s complaint was the sixth filed so far through the assistance of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO). 

The PAO earlier filed five separate complaints for the families of Aejay Bautista, 11; Angelica Pestilos, 10; Lenard Baldonado, 10; Zandro Colite, 11; and Abbie Hedia, 13 – all public school students who died allegedly due to multiple organ failure after getting Dengvaxia shots. 

DOJ prosecutors are set to conduct a preliminary investigation hearing on the consolidated case on May 15.

Duque was named respondent in the cases of Bataan and Hedia because it was during his tenure in the Department of Health when the two victims died. Bataan died last January while Hedia last February.

Also named respondents were doctors Vicente Belizario Jr., Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Gerardo Bayugo, Lyndon Lee Suy, Irma Asuncion, Julius Lecciones, Joyce Ducusin, Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario; and employees Rosalind Vianzon and Mario Baquilod.

In a press conference, Bataan’s father Darwin appealed for support from President Duterte in their cause to obtain justice for their son, arguing that they had not given consent for their son to be inoculated with Dengvaxia. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson has vowed to question the manner by which Sen. Richard Gordon has been conducting the Blue Ribbon committee hearings on the issue. – With Marvin Sy