By Jeffrey Damicog
More criminal complaints have been filed on Friday at the Department of Justice (DOJ) against former Health Secretary Janette Garin over the deaths of two children who received the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
Former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Garin
(Kevin Tristan Espiritu / MANILA BULLETIN)
Assisted by the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO), those who filed the complaints are the families of two dead children, namely, Roshaine Cariño and Christine Joy Asuncion.
PAO Chief Persida Acosta said the two children are among the 84 dead autopsied by the PAO forensics team and have been confirmed to have died due to Dengvaxia.
“Madami na patay. Ang patay na-autopsy 84 (There are already many deaths. 84 have been autopsied),” she told reporters.
Meanwhile, Acosta urged the Senate to pass the bill which will provide a budget of P1.1 billion to those who got inoculated with Dengvaxia.
She lamented that the current bill has been changed by Sen. Franklin Drilon so that the funds will be provided for dengue patients and not Dengvaxia victims.
“Bakit babaguhin? Sa halip na Dengvaxia victim, dengue lang (Why was it changed? Instead for Dengvaxia victims it was became funding for dengue patients),” Acosta said.
In their separate complaints, the families of Cariño and Asuncion accused the respondents of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code; torture resulting in the death of a person in violation of Section 4(ii) and (14) in relation to Section 14(a)(1) and (5) of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009; torture committed against children in violation of Section 15 of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009; defective product in violation of Article 97 in relation to Article 100, in relation of Article 107 of the Consumer Act of the Philippines; and mislabeled product in violation of Article 89 in relation to 95 of the Consumer Act of the Philippines.
Aside from Garin, DOH officials named as respondents in the complaints include Doctors. Vicente Belizario Jr., Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Gerardo Bayugo, Lyndon Lee Suy, Irma Asuncion, Julius Lecciones and Joyce Ducusin; Rosalind Viianzon and Mario Baquilod.
Also named as respondents are Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials Dr. Maria Lourdes Santiago and Melody Zamudio; and officials of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), namely, Doctors Socorro Lupisan and Maria Rosario Capeding.
Executives of Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pastuer and local distributor Zuellig Pharma are also included as respondents.
Sanofi Pasteur executives named as respondents are Carlito Realuyo, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali, and Marie Esther De Antoni.
While, those from Zuellig Pharma are Kasigod Jamias, Michael Becker, Ricardo Romulo, Imran Babar Chugtai, Rayumund Azurin, Nilo Badiola, John Stokes Davison, Marc Franck, Ashley Gerard Antonio, Ana Liza Peralta, Rosa Maria Chua, Danilo Cahoy, Manuel Concio III, Roland Goco, and Ma. Visitacion Barreiro.
The latest complaints would make it a total of 17 complaints filed against Garin over the deaths of 17 children.