Instead of removing the salaries of the staff of the Public Attorney’s Office’s (PAO), Senators Franklin Drilon and Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara should have provided medicines for those who received shots of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, PAO Chief Persida Acosta said.

“Kung gagawin natin lahat yan, Sen. Drilon, mamahagi ng gamot sa mga na-Dengvaxia, siguradong wala ng mamatay (Sen. Drilon, no one will die if we provide medicines to those who received doses of Dengvaxia),” Acosta said in a public message she posted on Facebook on Thursday, Dec. 3.

“Hindi na kailangan mag-autopsy (The PAO forensic laboratory won’t have to autopsy those who died),” she pointed out.

The PAO chief said there is medicine against the serious adverse effects as publicly admitted by Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur.

“I-monitor, i-surveillance nyo ang nabakunahan ng Dengvaxia at pag may side effect na saka ipagamot (They should monitor the vaccinees and when the side effects start to appear then that should be the time to give them medicines),” she said.

“May gamot naman. Ang problema yung mahihirap ni pambili ng bigas at tsaka ulam wala (There is medicine. But the poor victims don’t even have money to buy food),” the PAO chief lamented.

Acosta said the senators inserted a rider in the proposed 2021 national budget which read that: “Nothing in the appropriation provided in this act shall be used in the salaries and compensation of personnel and travel allowance, meetings, maintenance and other operating expenses of the PAO Forensic Laboratory Division.”

The PAO chief believes the restriction in the PAO budget is meant to disrupt the PAO’s prosecution of those believed responsible for the suffering and deaths of persons who received doses of Dengvaxia.

She cited that Drilon remains to be an associate counsel and Angara’s father, late former Sen. Edgardo Angara, was the founding partner of the Angara Abella Concepcion Regalla and Cruz Law Offices (ACCRA), the firm representing Sanofi Pasteur in the Dengvaxia cases.

Acosta reminded that in December 2017 then Justice Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre II issued Department Order No. 792 which ordered the PAO to assist families of Dengvaxia victims in the prosecution of those who should be held responsible for the vaccination.

The PAO chief also warned that the rider inserted by the senators has a chilling effect over other secure government positions.

“May chilling effect yan. Yung mga direktor ko ide-declare nyo wala ng sweldo e permanent sila (There is a chilling effect. It means they could even remove the salaries of PAO directors),” she cited.

In the meantime, Acosta said she has already written to President Duterte to veto the provision should it pass through bicameral conference.

Should the President not veto the provision, Acosta assured that the PAO will continue to autopsy Dengvaxia victims.

“Kausap ko pa yung mga doktor. Kahit pro bono tutulong sila (I talked with the PAO doctors. They are willing to help for free),” she said.