Sandiganbayan junks Garin plea to dismiss Dengvaxia case

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 11) — The Sandiganbayan has denied former health chief and incumbent Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin’s plea to drop the criminal charges filed against her over the alleged anomalous purchase of Dengvaxia vaccines during the Aquino administration.

In a nine-page resolution, the anti-graft court’s Second Division said it finds the allegations in the criminal information against Garin sufficient to hold trial as they contain the elements of the alleged crime.

“The information in question alleged facts and circumstances that necessarily constitute the offense charged,” the court said in its resolution dated January 10.

Garin, in her motion to quash or dismiss the charges, also argued that her right to speedy disposition of cases was violated.

She said the complaint against her over the Dengvaxia controversy was filed back in 2015 but the Ombudsman only resolved the case last August 2023.

The court was not convinced, noting that the case was first handled by the Department of Justice before it was forwarded to the Ombudsman in 2021.

It considered the fact that originally, there were 42 respondents who were given a chance to answer the allegations as well as the issues and voluminous documents that needed careful study.

“The Court finds that the length of time spent by both the DOJ and the Office of the Ombudsman before issuing resolutions that culminated in the filing of cases in court is reasonable and acceptable,” the second division said.

Garin’s co-accused, former health officials Gerardo Bayugo, Maria Joyce Ducusin, Kenneth Hartigan-Go, and Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive Julius Lecciones filed similar motions to quash which were also denied by the court.

They were all charged with graft and technical malversations for their alleged involvement in the realignment of the health department’s budget for the purchase and roll out of Dengvaxia vaccines for public school students.

The government spent ₱3.5 billion for the purchase of Dengvaxia vaccines even though it wasn’t part of the health department’s expanded immunization program.

Over 800,000 grade school students had already been vaccinated when vaccine manufacturer Sanofi announced that Dengvaxia could cause severe dengue in some cases.