CA okays joint Dengvaxia cases

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed a previous decision of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QCRTC) consolidating the Dengvaxia cases into one family court.

This was stated in a resolution promulgated by the CA’s Former Special Seventh Division on 16 July 2025.

The CA dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by petitioners Zuellig Pharma Corp. and Sanofi Pasteur Inc., while sustaining its 25 November 2024, decision.

Sanofi Pasteur is the manufacturer of the banned Dengvaxia vaccine, while Zuellig Pharma is its distributor in the country.

Associate Justice Mary Charlene Hernandez-Azura said in the resolution: “Upon careful review, we find that the arguments and issues by Zuellig in its motion for reconsideration are a mere rehash of the very same arguments and issues that have already been settled and resolved in the decision dated November 25, 2024, being sought to be reconsidered.”

The resolution was concurred in by Associate Justices Emily Alino-Geluz and Roberto Quiroz.

The petitioners sought the appellate court’s ruling as they questioned the decision of the QC RTC Branch 230 consolidating the cases of heirs Ian Colite and Ariel Hedia, saying the requirements for consolidation were not present and that consolidation would prejudice their rights, among other arguments.

In its earlier ruling, the appellate court said the public respondent, Branch 230, did not commit grave abuse of discretion amounting to a lack or excess of jurisdiction when it issued the assailed orders for consolidation.

“This Court deems the consolidation ordered by the public respondent proper and holds that the interest of justice will better be served if the instant case is consolidated, and tried simultaneously, with all other cases involving the same factual milieu and issues,” the appellate court said.

It further explained that the purpose of the rule is to avoid multiplicity of suits, guard against oppression and abuse, prevent delays, clear congested dockets, and simplify the work of the trial court.

“In short, consolidation aims to attain justice with the least expense and vexation to the parties-litigants,” the resolution said.

The CA emphasized that the Colite case is one of several complaints for damages against the same defendants lodged by the families of alleged victim-recipients of the Dengvaxia vaccine in the Department of Health’s (DoH) immunization program.

Although the parties are not identical, they share an identity or commonality of interest in the same subject matter, the court said.

“All the cases are intimately related as they involve the alleged irregular procurement of the Dengvaxia vaccine and its eventual alleged improper implementation during the Dengvaxia immunization program by the DoH, and the alleged negligence of the defendants and petitioners relative to its registration, purchase, and subsequent administration,” it added.

Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, whose office handles the civil cases filed by the heirs and relatives of those who allegedly died due to the controversial anti-dengue vaccine, hailed the CA resolution.

She said she hopes the decision will lead to the continuation of the long-delayed trials, noting that grieving parents have been deprived of justice for several years.

Former health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin is the principal accused in related criminal cases also pending before a Quezon City family court.