DOJ junks Garin’s libel charges vs Ubial et al.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed all 10 libel complaints that former Health Secretary Janette Garin and other health officials had filed against those who accused them of having profited from the controversial P3.5-billion dengue mass vaccination program in 2016.
In a resolution dated Sept. 12, the DOJ Prosecution Office ruled that the supposedly libelous statements made by Garin’s successor, Paulyn Ubial, and other critics were not made out of “malice” but out of a “sense of justice” for the risk posed by the Dengvaxia vaccine on hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren.
Adverse effects
Garin implemented the immunization program before the May 2016 elections. Over 800,000 people, mostly schoolchildren, were given Dengvaxia before the program was halted in 2017 after the vaccine’s French manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, said that the vaccine could have adverse effects on those who did not have previous exposure to dengue.
Garin and 10 other Department of Health (DOH) officials took exception to statements by public health officials that they were part of a DOH “mafia” that railroaded the procurement of the vaccine.
Garin’s husband
Garin filed libel complaints in Iloilo City against Ubial, former DOH consultant Dr. Francisco Cruz, Dr. Anthony Leachon and former DOH executive Dr. Teodoro Herbosa.
Garin’s husband, Iloilo Rep. Oscar Garin Jr., also sued Ubial for libel for supposedly claiming he pressured Garin into buying more dengue vaccines.
Meanwhile, Cruz was also accused of libel by DOH officials Dr. Julius Lecciones, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Mario Villaverde, Maria Carolina Vidal-Taiño, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David, Nestor Santiago Jr., Laureano Cruz, Maria Joyce Ducusin and Mar Wynn Bello.
Ubial, Cruz, Leachon and Herbosa, however, insisted that their statements were meant to “educate the public” on an issue of public interest.
‘Privileged communication’
They also said their statements during the Senate public hearing on the Dengvaxia mess were considered “absolute privileged communication.”
In dismissing the libel complaints, the DOJ said it was “understandable” that Ubial and other doctors “were likewise enraged by the alleged effects” of the Dengvaxia vaccine administered to schoolchildren.
“There is this general outrage when many defenseless schoolchildren died,” read the DOJ resolution prepared by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Alejo and approved by Prosecutor General Officer in Charge Richard Fadullon.
Garin and other DOHofficials are under investigation by the DOJ for 17 criminal complaints filed by the parents of minors who allegedly died after being inoculated with Dengvaxia.