House panels recommend raps vs PNoy, Abad, Garin over Dengvaxia vaccine
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2019 08:19:45 +0000
The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability and the House Committee on Health jointly recommended Wednesday the filing of criminal and administrative charges against former President Benigno S. Aquino III, former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, and other officials over the purported anomalous procurement of P3.5-billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines.
In a joint hearing, the panels headed by Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan, respectively, approved its draft committee report, voting 14-4.
House Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu moved for the approval of the committee report, which recommended that Aquino and several officials be held liable over the Dengvaxia mess.
Under the committee report, the joint panel noted that “it is apparent that there was collusion among public officials to ensure that a large quantity of Dengvaxia vaccines would be purchased by the government for administration to school children in the National Capital Region and in Regions 3 and 4.”
“This was done even though the safety and efficacy of Dengvaxia had not been clearly established. These officials provided shortcuts in the process to favor Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer of a commercially available dengue vaccine,” it said.
“These officials may therefore be held liable for conspiring and confederating with one another for the purpose of “giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage, or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence,” under Section 3(e) of RA No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” the report said.
According to the joint panel, Dr. Maria Joyce Ducusin, Dr. Rosalind Vianzon, Dr. Mario Baquilod, Dr. Julius Lecciones, and Dr. Estrella Paje-Villar, members of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center Bids and Awards Committee, Dr. Kenneth Hartigan-Go, and Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy may also be held liable for graft.
The joint panel said Aquino, Abad, Garin, and several officials may also be held liable for technical malversation and grave misconduct over the Dengvaxia fiasco, aside from violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
During the hearing, Romualdo said there was indeed technical malversation, citing that savings cannot be used to fund procurements that have no appropriations in the General Appropriations Act.
“The use of “savings” for other projects or procurements for which there has been no appropriation from Congress falls within the offense punished under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code,” the report said.
The joint panel said the 2015 General Appropriations Act did not appropriate funds for the acquisition of the dengue vaccine in the budget of the Department of Health.
“The dengue vaccine was likewise not included in the DoH’s Expanded Immunization Program for 2015. Thus, the DoH, or its agencies, was not authorized to procure a dengue vaccine in 2015. However, former President Aquino approved former Secretary Garin’s request for the use of savings for the acquisition of the dengue vaccine. The amount of P3,556,155,900 from the FY 2015 MPBF savings was approved for use in the acquisition of the dengue vaccine,” the report noted. (Charissa L. Atienza)