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Atienza threatens to sue Garin as they clash in plenary over Dengvaxia


Plenary session was briefly interrupted Tuesday night as two lawmakers exchanged words over the Dengvaxia vaccine.

Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza dared Iloilo Representative Janette Garin to a televised debate on the vaccine, and said that whoever will be proven wrong should resign.

Atienza's challenge came after he called out Garin for supposedly claiming that he was spreading fake news at the House of Representatives on the resurgence of polio cases in the country.

In a privilege speech, Atienza slammed Garin for her comments on his interpellation on another privilege speech by Bagong Henerasyon party-list Representative Bernadette Herrera-Dy delivered on Monday.

Atienza, in his interpellation of Herrera-Dy's speech, said the reason parents are shunning vaccines for their children was because they have lost confidence on the Department of Health's (DOH) vaccination programs.

This, he said, was after the DOH earlier administered tetanus toxoid vaccine on women which caused them to become sterile and after it implemented the controversial Dengvaxia vaccination program in 2016, when Garin was the health secretary.

Atienza claimed that Garin branded his information as "nothing but fake news."

"That is unfair, coming from a member of Congress. She should've respected my opinion as I would have respected hers. But since she branded this as fake news, I am willing to prove this in any forum. Mamili na siya. I will prove that she is wrong, and she is guilty of some wrongdoing in government," Atienza said.

"If she proves that I have infected this chamber with fake news, I'm willing to be prosecuted and I'm willing to resign my position. But if I am able to prove in that debate that I am inviting here to join me in, she has to answer to the Dengvaxia deaths and the dengue deaths of our children," he added.

Atienza's challenge irked Garin, who stood up and questioned why the former was allowed to deliver a privilege speech when the House was not having a "privilege hour" and when there was no quorum on the floor.

Garin even requested the presiding officer to direct the House secretary general to escort Atienza out of the plenary hall as he was still speaking even after the suspension of session.

After a quorum was declared and the session had resumed, Atienza reiterated his challenge to Garin, and even threatened to file charges against her.

"Yung Dengvaxia is a campaign which expose children to dengue and to possible death. Up to now, we don't know how many actually died because of Dengvaxia. And the responsibility of the Dengvaxia campaign rests on the shoulder of the lady who is violently reacting to what we are delivering," he said.

For her part, Garin asked whether Atienza actually heard her saying he was spreading fake news at the House.

Atienza said that Garin followed him and questioned his interpellation on Monday. "So who else could she have been referring to? The wind? Cong. Daza? Ako ang nakatayo rito e."

But Garin pointed out that it was not Atienza whom she was referring to as "fake news."

"Ang sinabi ko na ang fake news ay nakakasakit at nakakamatay dahil maraming life saving vaccines ang nasira dahil sa mga maling impormasyon lalo na kung ito ay hindi nanggaling sa mga eksperto," she said.

Atienza insisted, however, that the public deception regarding the Dengvaxia vaccine has caused doubt among the people.

"I repeat my offer to her. Let's debate on this issue on television and prove to the Filipinos that you did not commit an error of judgment, and I will prove otherwise. And whoever wins in that debate will remain in the Congress of the Philippines, because the loser should, by delicadeza, resign," he said.

Garin took Atienza's challenge, adding that she will continue standing for the truth no matter how many charges are filed against her.

"The challenge for me to resign, if indeed Dengvaxia causes deaths, surely, I welcome and I accept that. I've been saying that several times, dengue vaccine does not cause deaths," she said.

"I will not back out but I will still stand firm in saying that vaccine and vaccination save lives. Maski sangkatutak na kaso ang ipatong sa akin, I will not stop in speaking of the truth, because why will I be afraid in doing my duty?" she added.

In November 2017, the government suspended the school-based dengue vaccination program after Sanofi Pasteur, the French pharmaceutical company that manufactured Dengvaxia, advised against prescribing the vaccine to patients who have not acquired the dengue virus before due to the severe diseases it may cause in the long run.

The vaccine was said to have posed health risks to more than 700,000 school children who were administered with it.  —LDF, GMA News