Garin fails to block additional prosecution documents for Dengvaxia case

MANILA, Philippines – House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin has failed to block the inclusion of new government documents in the Sandiganbayan case involving P3.55 billion worth of Dengvaxia vaccines when she was health secretary in 2015.

The Sandiganbayan on Monday, July 15, granted a motion from government prosecutors for the inclusion of additional documents in the pre-trial order of pending criminal charges pertaining to the procurement.

Iloilo 1st District Representative Garin, together with her then-undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go, tried to block the documents with an objection that they were being introduced after the pre-trial conference and the submission of pre-trial briefs.

They argued that the prosecution should be barred from submitting new documents for failure to give adequate reasons for submitting late, when the same documents should have been discovered by government lawyers.

Apart from Garin and Go, the others included in the graft charge were former health undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo, former officer-in-charge director Joyce Ducusin, and former Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones.

The same defendants were named in a separate case of technical malversation, except for Bayugo.

The prosecution alleged that the former health officials unlawfully diverted funds from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund in a bid to push through with the purchase of the controversial Dengvaxia vaccines.

The Sandiganbayan Second Division said that the introduction of additional documents was allowed, since the Rules of Court admits exceptions.

“On the basis of the above, the Motion of the plaintiff may be granted to prevent manifest injustice and for a good cause shown,” the Sandiganbayan said in an eight-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, with concurrences from associate justices Edgardo Caldona and Arthur Malabaguio.

Some of the documents introduced to the case were the following:

• A report from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force Dengvaxia dated March 12, 2018;
• A letter of Sanofi Pasteur country manager Ching Santos dated October 29, 2015 to Garin with the subject: “Proposal for inclusion of the Dengue Vaccine into the Philippine Formulary”;
• Several FDA memos on post-market surveillance, guidance on product recall, and clarificatory regulations on identical drug products; and
• Copies of communications between the formulary council and former health secretary Paulyn Ubial.

Prosecutors said that they only learned of the existence and relevance of the 2018 FDA report on May 8, 2024, when former FDA Center for Drug Regulation and Research director Jesusa Joyce Cirunay informed them about it.

They also argued that since the additional documents were official issuances from the Department of Health and the FDA, the court may take judicial notice of their existence.

“The court may allow a liberal construction of the rule where the interest of substantial justice will be served and a thorough disposition of the case will be achieved,” the Sandiganbayan said. – Rappler.com