IllUfi$OlY reuruary 7,2ots ..

STORY BY DJ YAP

Aioint House of Representatives panel foundformer President Benigno Aquino III and his health and budget
secretaries criminally and administratively tiable for the aborted Dengvaxia vaccinatlon program.'

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By DJ Yap
@decjayaplNQ
A joint panel of rhe House of
Reprcsentatives on Wednesday
recommended crirhinal and ad-
minisl rative charges against
formcr President Benigno
Aquitro lll and his health and
budgrl sccretaries for the con,
trovclsial mass inoculation of
schoolchildren with the Deng-
vaxia vaccine in zo16 that led to
a n) ssive health scare.
'l'ltc cornmittees on good gov-
enrlrrcrrt and healtl voted 4_4 in
lavor of a report reconunending
gralt, technical malversation and
av(. rnisconduct charges against
qquino, former Health Secretary
anct tc Gadn, former Budget Sec-
'etirry Florencio Abad and others
lekl responsible for the p3.s-bil-
lott vaccination program.
'Ihc joint panel found that
\quino and the others violated
iection 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft
n(l (lorrupt Practices Act, which
rcnitlizcs an official for giving a
rrivirl(! party "unwarranted ben-
fits, dvantage or preference in
hc discharge of his official ad-
liristrative or judicial func-
ors through manifest partiali-
/, ('vident bad faith or gross in-
x( llsable negligence."
vestigate the personalities in-
volved in the procurement of
the dengue vaccines."
Dinagat Rep. Kaka Bag-ao,
..,who voted against the report of
the joint panel chaired by
Camiguin Rep. Xavier Romual-
do, questioned its conclusions.
Bag-ao noted that the facts
stated in the report were the
same as those cited in an earlier
draft prepared by the former
panel chair, Surigao del Sur Rep.
Johnny Pimentel, which had ex-
oneratedAquino and his officials.
Different conclusion
She asked why the panel un-
der Romualdo had jumped to a
completely different conclusion
from the same set offacts.
Romualdo said the earlier
document only remained a
draft, since it was never put to
committee deliberation.
Bag-ao argued against the
approval of the report but was
outvoted. The others who voted
against the report were Repre-
sentatives Gabriel Bordado Jr. of
Camarines Sur, Kit Belmonte of
Quezon City and Oscar Garin Jr.
oflloilo.
In November 2o17, Sanofi is-
sued a global warning saying
that people with no prior expo-
sure to the dcngue virus might
Benigno Aquino lll
suffcr sevcrc symptoms of the
Florencio Abad Janette Garin clisease lf they had been innocu-
l;'i P/ wlrh Dandv.vi,
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Sanofi refunded the govern
mentPLl6 billion for the unuse(
Dengvaxia. Lawmakers later ear
marked the money for medica
assistance for those who had al.
ready been vaccinated.
Malacaiang on Wednesdal
said it would "defer" to rh€
House decision to recommend
the charges against Aquino and
the others.
Presidential spokesperson
Salvador Panelo in a statement
said tie legal process should .,take
its course and those found re-
sponsible be held administmtive -
ly, criminally and civilly liable.',
"The Department of Justice
will perform its task of evaluat-
ing the evidence presented be-
fore it and rule on the existence
of a probable cause agaiirst the
respondents," he said.
"We reiterate the policy of
the administration that whoev-
er transgresses the law will
have to account for it regardless
of the social status and the Do-
Iitical affiliarion of the ffa;s-
gressor," he added.
Earlier NBI complaint
The National Bureau of In-
vestigation already filed similar
charges against Aquino, Garin.
Abad and officials of Sanofi,
Food and Drug Administration
and the DOH in the Office of the
Ombudsman.