THE Sandiganbayan has denied the motions filed by former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin and four others to dismiss the graft charges filed against them over the government’s procurement of Dengvaxia vaccines.
Garin and her co-accused— former Department of Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo, Undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go, OIC director Joyce Ducusin, and former Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones— had filed separate motions to quash the charges against them.
They contended that the facts in the charge sheet against them do not constitute an offense.
They also said their right to the speedy violation of cases was violated because the investigation of the allegations against them and the filing of the charges took too long.
The complaint was filed in February 2015, and the Office of the Ombudsman’s resolution recommending the charges was issued in August 2023. The charges were filed in October 2023.
But in a January 10 resolution, the anti-graft court’s Second Division denied their motions and said the Information filed against them by the Office of the Ombudsman contained sufficient allegations to support the charges.
They were accused of participating in the alleged realignment of the budget to procure Dengvaxia vaccines to use in a mass immunization drive for students, which supposedly placed the latter at risk because of issues about the efficacy of the vaccine.
The court also said there was no duplicity of offense in the charge sheets against Garin.
As for the officials’ contention of delay in their cases, the Sandiganbayan said that given the circumstances, the length of time spent by the Department of Justice and Office of the Ombudsman investigating the case before issuing the resolution was “reasonable and acceptable,” as posted on abogado.com.ph
It noted that there were originally 42 respondents in the complaint who were given the opportunity to present their side.
It also said the “complexities of the issues” required careful study, and voluminous documents had to be reviewed.
“The Court rules that the investigations were not attended by vexatious, capricious, and oppressive delays. Rather, the length of time spent in the investigation indicates that a careful examination and review of the evidence and documents were thoroughly undertaken before the cases were filed in court,” it said.
Garin earlier said the purchase of the vaccines was not tainted by corruption. The health officials’ decision to use this was science-based, she said.
