PACC exec withdraws from Dengvaxia case

Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Manuelito Luna /Photo by Julius Leonen

Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commissioner Manuelito Luna has withdrawn as a complainant in the criminal charges filed against former President Benigno Aquino III and other former officials.

Luna believes that his withdrawal as a private complainant in the case filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) would deter “doubts in the regularity and fairness of the proceedings and also in fairness of the respondents.”

“I believe that this is good for all the concerned, the complainants and the respondents,” Luna told reporters in a chance interview at the DOJ on Friday. “I wish them all good luck and may justice be served.”

The PACC official, who was formerly a lawyer for the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), also said that his decision would prove to Aquino that he was not throwing his weight around in the case.

“From here on, I will no longer be seen in the proceedings as one of the parties of the case and I hope this satisfy former President Aquino,” Luna said.

“It would be out of delicadeza and a better policy for me to formally withdraw as private complainant in this case,” Luna added.

Luna was among the complainants in the charges against Aquino, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, former Budget Secretary Butch Abad, and several others over the distribution of the allegedly faulty Dengvaxia vaccine.   /vvp