PAO chief calls for consolidation of Dengvaxia cases

We have filed 45 separate criminal cases before the Department of Justice, which is aside from the other 45 separate cases filed before the court.

Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Acosta yesterday called on the Office of Court Administrator Midas Marquez to expedite the assignment of Dengvaxia cases since many have already been filed.

Acosta made the call after a new case of alleged death to Dengvaxia was reported involving a 12-year old Grade 8 student from Taguig City.

She said the consolidation of all the cases into one court is needed because there are so many cases, and they continue to increase in number.

“We have filed 45 separate criminal cases before the Department of Justice, which is aside from the other 45 separate cases filed before the court. Court Administrator Marquez should expedite the consolidation of court cases into a single Dengvaxia court,” Acosta said.

On 4 April 2019 an extremely urgent petition to transfer venue and consolidate cases into one Regional Trial Court was filed by the PAO lawyers on behalf of the victims to the office of Maruez.

The petitioners aver the cases involved the death of unsuspecting children from the new and experimental Dengvaxia vaccine that the Department of Health irregularly purchased and indiscriminately administered via a mass inoculation program without prior appropriate screening, informed consent of parents/guardians and assistance of doctors.

They also claimed the mass inoculation program covered four of the most populous regions of the country.

“As a result, more or less 833,000 poor Filipino children, or almost a million minors and unsuspecting children, were inoculated with the vaccine. Per the Senate Blue Ribbon committee inquiry in aid of legislation on the Dengvaxia controversy, more of less 12,000 police officers of the PNP were also vaccinated,” the petition said.