[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Noy Aquino: Dengvaxia case ‘pure harassment’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
Friday, March 16, 2018
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=’18’ font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
MANILA – Former president Benigno Aquino III insisted that he did not commit electioneering when his administration carried out the controversial P3.5-billion dengue immunization program in 2016.
The case filed against him over the Dengvaxia vaccine was just “pure harassment,” Aquino told a news conference at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office yesterday.
“Wala po akong ginawang mali. May kumpiyansa akong imposibleng mapatunayan ang isang pangyayari na hindi kailanman nangyari,” Aquino said. “Tulad ko, ’pag binasa ninyo ang reklamo, makikita niyong wala itong saysay at kabuluhan.”
Comelec’s Law Department summoned Aquino, former Health secretary Janette Garin and former Budget secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad to a preliminary hearing yesterday.
The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) accused them of violating the Omnibus Election Code for carrying out the immunization program on April 4, 2016, which fell within the 45-day election ban on government projects ahead of the May 2016 elections.
“Klaro naman pong harassment lang ang punto,” Aquino added. “Tama marahil ang sinasabi ng iilan na ’di katarungan ang layunin dito kundi ang magpapansin para ma-appoint sa puwesto.”
Meanwhile Garin saw the preliminary hearing as an opportunity to clarify the intention of the dengue immunization program that used Dengvaxia.
“It will allow me to show that the immunization program was not at all part of a political exercise, as others were trying to make it appear, but was already part of the DOH program to find a solution to a real health concern at the time, which was dengue,” Garin said.
“Had the program been a political one, then it would not have been school-based but community-based. And had it been political in nature, why did (former Health) secretary-designate (Paulyn) Ubial continue and expand it?” said Garin.
VACC legal counsel Manuelito Luna said the three violated Section 261 (o) and (v) of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits the release and use government funds within 45 days before a regular election or 30 days before a special election.
Violation of the law will result in imprisonment of one to six years, disqualification from holding public office and deprivation of the right to vote.
Moreover, the VACC claimed public funds were used for “partisan political activity” of the Liberal Party “to further the candidacies of his (Aquino’s) party-mates or otherwise influence or entice the voters to throw their support or vote for the candidates.”
The Aquino administration bought P3.5 billion worth of Dengvaxia shots for one million public school children in regions reported to have the highest number of cases of dengue.
But the Department of Health stopped the program in December last year after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur disclosed that it could lead to severe symptoms among those not yet infected by the dengue virus.
More than 800,000 school children have already been inoculated at the time./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
