PAO UMALMA SA PAGSAMPA SA MeTC NG DENGVAXIA CASE

MULING inalmahan ng Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) ang mga government prosecutor kaugnay sa bagong isinampa nitong siyam na kaso ng Dengvaxia makaraang dalhin ng mga ito sa Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) sa Taguig City sa halip na idiretso sa family court sa Quezon City na eksklusibong itinalaga noon ng Korte Suprema.

“Here we go again, our great and valiant prosecutors have filed new criminal cases again before a Metropolitan Trial Court when they are supposed to do it before a family court, a Regional Trial Court in Quezon City which was already designated by the Supreme Court as an exclusive court that will handle Dengvaxia cases,” mariing pahayag ni PAO chief Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta sa isang virtual press briefing.

“It’s like a ping-pong (in reference to a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using small rackets). They are only contributing more delays and sufferings for the families and relatives of the victims who have been longing for justice for their children who died due to Dengvaxia,” litanya pa ng pinuno ng PAO.

Nagpahayag naman ng pagdududa si PAO Forensics Division chief Dr. Erwin Erfe kung bakit ganoon ang naging pagkilos ng mga public prosecutor sa kabila ng may kautusan na ang Supreme Court na dapat idiretso na ang lahat ng kasong may kaugnayan sa Dengvaxia sa tinatawag na exclusive family court, ang Regional Trial Court’s Branch 107 sa QC.

“Instead of consolidating other earlier Dengvaxia cases into a single court that is Branch 107, now there are another similar cases filed before the MeTC-Taguig which would be taxing and a waste of plenty of papers,” wika pa ni Erfe na halatang dismayado.

“But the Supreme Court was already clear. It already designated a family court that will handle all Dengvaxia cases exclusively but what these great prosecutors are doing right now?” pagtatanong pa ni Acosta.

Nabatid na bukod sa reckless imprudence cases, siyam na kaso pa ng paglabag sa Republic Act 7394 (Consumer Act of the Philippines) ang isinampa ng government prosecutors laban sa Dengvaxia maker na Sanofi Pasteur Inc. at mga opisyal na kinabibilangan nina Carlito Realuyo, Stanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean Francois Vacherand at Conchita Santos sa MeTC-Branch 1116 sa Taguig.

Nitong Disyembre 11, 2020, 157 criminal complaints na ang naisampa sa Department of Justice (DOJ) na may kaugnayan sa pagkamatay ng 155 biktima at dalawang survivors.

Matatandaang ang unang batch ng criminal cases ay ginawang consolidated at dinala na sa Branch 107 kung saan nakatakdang basahan ang mga akusadong sina ex DOH secretary at ngayo’y Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, Julius Lecciones, Maria Rosario Capeding, Kenneth Hartigan Go, Melody Zamudio at Realuyo habang may pre-trial sa mga akusadong sina Dr. Vicente Belizario, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Irma Asuncion, Dr. Maria Joyce Ducusin, Dr. Rosalind Vianzon, Dr. Mario Baquilod, Dr. Socorro Lupisan at Maria Lourdes Santiago sa darating na Setyembre 20, 2021 ganap na alas-2 ng hapon. BENEDICT ABAYGAR, JR.