Duterte admin execs should also be held liable for Dengvaxia mess

Opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Thursday said officials of the Duterte administration should also be held liable for the continuation of the controversial dengue vaccination program.

Citing the blue ribbon committee report on its investigation into the P3.5-billion Dengvaxia vaccine purchase and mass vaccination, ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro said, "Bakit ang mananagot lang dito ay yung nakaraang administrasyon. Diba ipinagpatuloy din ito ng kasalukuyang gobyerno?"

Senator Richard Gordon, the chairman of the committee, on Wednesday said that former President Benigno Aquino III, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, and former Budget chief Florencio Abad had conspired and must be charged over the Dengvaxia mess.

But Castro argued that the present administration continued the dengue program the Aquino administration had implemented in 2016, and that the Senate panel report appears to be incomplete.     

"Ang comment lang namin dito ay mula nung 2016 hanggang nung bago matigil ang pagpapa-inject ng Dengvaxia ay ipinagpatuloy ito. Tingin ko, parang may kulang doon sa report na binigay ni Senator Gordon," she said.

She urged the blue ribbon committee to make a complete and objective report on its investigation, and include officials of the current administration as they are also liable.

"So sana kumpletuhin ang report, maging objective at tignan natin na meron ding pananagutan dito ang Duterte administrasyon sa panahon ni [former Health Secretary Paulyn] Ubial kaugnay dito." 

Fellow ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio shared the same sentiments.

"[Gordon] is silent on the role played by the Duterte administration in perpetuating the same, despite the availability of more information and studies regarding the risks of the experimental vaccine," he said in a separate statement.

"We hope that the Senate as a whole will not allow its investigation into this issue to be reduced to yet another one-sided and partisan exercise but will ascribe accountability to all who played a role in exposing the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos to undue risk," he added.

For his part, Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano said that the Senate draft report has no appreciation of facts and solid evidence.

"There should have been thorough investigation and conciliation of facts and findings of medical experts from which the recommendations of the committee should have been based," he said.

Moreover, he said that politics and personal issues should not play a part on the investigation into the issue.

"Sa mga pansariling intensyon ng iilan para pulitikahin ang isyu, inilalagay nila ang publiko sa panganib. Due to baseless fear, the public lost trust on the vaccination program of the government," he said, adding that "unless this is effectively addressed, more children could be put in danger."  —LBG, GMA News