Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III
Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III faces a second plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged irregularities in the procurement of the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio and Citizens Crime Watch head Diego Magpantay on Thursday filed a complaint against Aquino and 21 others for enriching themselves in the procurement.
A complaint was also filed against pharmaceutical companies Sanofi-Pasteur and Zuellig Pharma Corp., which manufactured and distributed Dengvaxia, respectively.
The complaint against Aquino and the others claimed that officials of the previous administration “haphazardly planned and procured” the vaccine in violation of government regulatory processes and procurement laws.
The government spent P3.5 billion for the vaccine used in inoculating about 830,000 children during the Aquino and Duterte administrations.
‘Conflict of interest’
But controversy erupted when Sanofi disclosed in November last year that the vaccine could worsen symptoms in those not previously exposed to the dengue virus.
Named as Aquino’s corespondents were former Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., former Health Secretary Janette Garin, former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Undersecretaries Ma. Carolina Vidal-Taiño, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde, and Assistant Secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago Jr.
Complainants’ ‘ploy’
Former Health Undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go and Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones were accused of “glaring conflict of interest” in clearing Dengvaxia for government procurement.
Go was previously connected with Zuellig Foundation, the corporate social responsibility program of Zuellig Pharma, while Lecciones was a former director of Aventis, which merged with Sanofi in 2005.
Abad and Aquino’s spokesperson, Abigail Valte, dismissed Topacio’s complaint as “baseless,” with Valte saying that it was “more of a ploy (by the complainants) to get more government posts for themselves.”
Aquino is “ready to respond to the unfounded complaints when required [by the Ombudsman] to do so,” Valte said.
This was the second plunder complaint filed against the former president in connection with the Dengvaxia mess.
Ridiculed complaint
On Dec. 15, former Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. accused Aquino of mass murder and plunder in a complaint widely ridiculed on social media for its liberal use of clip art, news reports and Facebook posts by pro-Duterte supporters.
Garin, meanwhile, faces three more criminal complaints filed by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Thursday on behalf of the families of three minors who allegedly died after being given the dengue vaccine.
This brought to nine the total complaints that PAO chief Persida Acosta has so far filed against Garin, 36 other health officials, as well as executives of Sanofi Pasteur and Zuellig Pharma.
The complaints are for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and torture, and for obstruction of justice.
The Department of Justice panel of prosecutors will conduct a preliminary investigation hearing on the Dengvaxia-related cases on May 15.— WITH A REPORT FROM DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN