OSG has no witness in case questioning vaccination of minors

THE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) did not present any witness at the resumption of the trial of a petition that aims to stop the Department of Health (DoH) from continuing with the mass vaccination of minors against Covid-19, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said.

Rueda-Acosta serves as principal counsel of a group of parents that petitioned the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to issue a writ of injunction against the vaccination program.

Judge Maria Cherell de CastroSansaet of Quezon City RTC Branch 222 is handling the case.

OSG lawyers cross-examined Dr. Benigno Agbayani Jr. of the Manila Doctor’s Hospital over his claim that the Covid-19 vaccination was only experimental in nature.

It was during the proceedings that the state lawyers confirmed that they will not be presenting witnesses to debunk the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses which include PAO Forensics Division chief Dr. Erwin Erfe.

“The OSG has no single witness to present before the court to controvert the testimonies and evidence the PAO has initially presented and will present more during the continuation of the hearing of the petition,” Rueda-Acosta told The Manila Times.

She expressed hope that they will be able to convince the Quezon City court that the mass vaccination, especially for minors ages 5 to 11, is unconstitutional.

“We have at least three experienced doctors, a former Biliran lawmaker in the name of Glenn Chong and the parents-petitioners themselves who all have claims and pieces of evidence to assert the unconstitutionality of the mass vaccination for Covid-19,” the PAO chief said.

In the hearing on Tuesday, Agbayani, co-founder and past president of the Concerned Doctors and Citizens of the Philippines, maintained that Covid-19 vaccines were merely granted emergency use authorizations or EUAs and no Covid-19 vaccine has yet been issued with any certificate of product registration, or CPR, by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Only EUAs were granted to existing Covid-19 vaccines. Therefore, there must be surveillance on the safety and efficacy of the same and the persons in charge of public health should be aware of the red flags of an experimental vaccine, such as deaths and injuries following Covid shots,” Agbayani said.

“There are even recorded incidents of Bell’s Palsy. Therefore, considering that there are adverse events that may occur following the inoculation of an experimental drug, there should be no coerced mass vaccination, especially to our children who are more vulnerable members of the society,” he added.

The main petitioners — broadcast journalist Dominic Almelor, a father of a 7-year-old boy, and Girlie Samonte, a mother of two boys — are expected to testify, PAO said.

Chong, the first to take the witness stand, maintained that the DoH violated Republic Act (RA)11525, the Covid-19 Vaccination Program, when it issued Memorandum 2022-0041 dated Jan. 24, 2022 requiring the vaccination of minors.

“The law (RA 11525) only provided for and identified the following groups: health care workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, frontline personnel in essential services, including uniformed personnel and teachers, and indigent population; and the following special groups: frontline workers in health facilities, senior citizens, and indigent persons, as the beneficiaries, respectively, of the vaccines funded by the national and local government units,” the former lawmaker said.

“When a government agency issues rules and regulations like this department memorandum, it should be anchored on a clear grant of authority by the law because the DoH does not have the power to legislate. Under our system of government, only the legislature has the power to legislate laws. Thus, when it comes to the issuance of rules and regulations by administrative agencies, subordinate legislation is allowed only when there is a valid delegation of legislative authority,” Chong said.

“The DoH memorandum was issued with grave abuse of discretion to the detriment of the life or health of the pediatric population ages 5 to 11. The DoH has exceeded the authority delegated to it by Congress,” he added.