A QUEZON City court has rejected the motions of the prosecution to present documents as well as the testimony of health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon in the reckless imprudence resulting in homicide case against Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, former health secretary, in connection with the Dengvaxia vaccine.
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 229 Presiding Judge Maria Luisa Lesle Gonzales-Betic ruled against allowing the prosecution to file the documents as additional evidence against Garin and nine other accused, as well as to put Leachon on the witness stand.
The court dismissed the argument of the prosecution that it should take judicial notice of the “truth of all matters stated therein,” with respect to the documents.
“To rule otherwise would violate the right of all the accused to due process of law as they were not given the opportunity allotted to them by the Constitution to confront and assail the witness presented against them in the said Committee Hearings,” it said, according to abogado.ph
“What the Court can take Judicial Notice of is the fact that hearings in aid of legislation and findings therein cannot be a substitute to the duty of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt based on competent and relevant evidence,” it said.
It also said that “this Court cannot take judicial notice of the said TSN of the Committee Hearings.”.
It also denied the admissibility of Leachon as a witness “on ground of incompetency of Dr. Anthony C. Leachon to testify on the same.”
In 2020, Garin and her fellow accused were charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide in relation to the government rollout of the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccines, allegedly resulting in the deaths of those who were inoculated.
