A Quezon City court has yet to receive a copy of the bail bond earlier filed by former health secretary now Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin in connection with the Dengvaxia cases.
Garin on Monday (Nov. 23) told Manila Bulletin that her lawyer "will be furnishing" the Quezon City court "a copy of the previously issued bail bond." She said, this is the one from the Imus, Cavite court.
The move came after Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 107 Judge Jose Bautista Jr. issued an omnibus order dated November 18, 2020.
“The Court went over the record of this case and finds that probable cause exists to issue warrant of arrest against all of the accused,” Judge Bautista said in his three-page omnibus order.
"The record shows that some accused, namely Dr. Janette L. Garin, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean Francois Vacherand have not yet filed their bail bonds. They are directed to inform the Court if they have already filed their bail bond in other Courts and furnish this Court a copy of the Courts order approving their bond so that the Court can likewise approve the same without them filing a new bail bond within 3 days from receipt of this order, otherwise a warrant of arrest will be issued against them," the order added.
“The bail bonds posted by some of the accused before METCC, Imus, Cavite and other Courts are considered filed before this Court and the Court accordingly approves the same,” Bautista ordered.
Garin and he co-accused have been charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide over the deaths of children inoculated with Dengvaxia vaccine during her term as health secretary in 2016.
Their arraignment, pre-trial and preliminary conference is set on November 27 at 2 p.m.
Dismissed cases
Garin told Manila Bulletin that there is only one remaining case against her, which is the one pending before a court in Imus.
"All eight cases were dismissed except 1," she said in a Viber message, "Bail bonds were filed 2018 and early 2019 for all cases."
However, Public Attorney's Office chief Persida Acosta said the reason why the other cases were dismissed is because the prosecutors filed charges in the wrong courts.
"Mali ang court na pinagsampahan ng Prosecutors ng dengvaxia criminal cases kaya nadimiss at walang jurisdiction ang Metropolitan trial courts (MTC). Hindi po dahil walang evidence o merito kaya nadismiss (The prosecutors did not file the Dengvaxia criminal cases in appropriate courts, that's why they were dismissed. The MTC has no jurisdiction to hear the case. These are the reasons why the cases were dismissed and not because of not enough evidence or lack of merit)," she said in a Facebook post.
"Ngayon ay nagtalaga na ang Supreme Court ng one dengvaxia Regional Trial Court (RTC) Family Court na didinig ng dengvaxia criminal cases (Now, the Supreme Court has assigned one RTC Family Court to hear all Dengvaxia criminal cases)," she added, referring to Branch 107.
Reports circulated last week that an arrest warrant had already been issued against Garin.
Acosta clarified over Teleradyo Sunday (Nov. 22) that the court will only issue a warrant if Garin's camp fails to post bail before the Quezon City court.
"Ngayon kung nakapag-bond na sila e di i-hohold yung warrant of arrest. Pero kung hindi naman, i-iissue 'yan (If they already filed bail, the warrant of arrest will be withheld. But if not, the warrant will be issued)," Acosta explained.
"Ngayon, yung judge naman binibigyan sila ng pagkakataon, 3 days, to file bail bond from receipt of the order from November 18, 2020 (The judge has given them 3 days to file bail bond upon receipt of the order from November 18, 2020)," she added.