The Sandiganbayan on Tuesday, Oct. 13, acquitted former Health Secretary and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin and four former health officials in the ₱3.5-billion Dengvaxia procurement case, finding that prosecutors failed to establish criminal wrongdoing in the 2015 purchase.
The vaccination campaign began in 2016 but was suspended in 2017 after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur disclosed increased risks of severe dengue among recipients who had never contracted dengue.
Cleared alongside the former health secretary were former Health Undersecretaries Gerardo Bayugo and Kenneth Hartigan-Go, former Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Joyce Ducusin, and former Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones.
The court’s 43-page decision found insufficient proof of bad faith in the procurement. It also cited Commission on Audit witnesses who confirmed that no public funds went missing as a result of the vaccine purchase.
“After sifting through the voluminous documents and extensive testimonies of witnesses, the Court is not convinced that the accused committed bad faith in causing the purchase of Dengvaxia vaccines,” the ruling stated.
The Ombudsman filed the case in 2023 over the use of funds originally allocated to the 2015 Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund. Prosecutors questioned whether the money had been improperly redirected to buy the vaccines.
The court ruled that then President Benigno Aquino III, through the Department of Budget and Management, authorized the transfer of savings, while Garin requested funding. It found a legal basis for Aquino’s action.
“The buck stops with the President, so to speak, and not with the member of his Cabinet,” the court said.
The Sandiganbayan also ordered the release of the accused officials’ cash bonds and lifted their hold-departure orders.
