Erfe defends credentials; says that he studied Ninoy’s case

After being criticized by former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III relating to the controversial dengue vaccination program under his administration, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) medico-legal consultant and Dr. Erwin Erfe hits back by saying that he offered his services in the forensic investigation of the remains of Aquino’s father, late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

“Noong 2004 po ay kinuha kami ng Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) para pag-aralan ‘yung assassination, forensic analysis ng assassination ni Senator Ninoy Aquino… Kami po ang nag-aral nun at alam po ‘yun ng dating presidente (In 2004, PAO asked us to study the assassination, the forensic analysis of the assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino… We were the ones who studied that and the former president knows that),” Erfe said in an interview with DZMM.

He added that former senator Rene Saguisag, Aquino camp’s lawyer, tapped their forensic team in the said case and the findings were raised to the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court (SC) – which means that the former president should know it. He also mentioned that Saguisag was their client when he had a law office then.

“Kaya nga po nagtataka ko at bakit ngayon kinquestion nila [ang credentials ko] (That is why I am wondering why they are questioning my credentials now),” he said.

The PAO medico-legal consultant was defending himself from Aquino’s camp’s attacks during the hearing of the Dengvaxia vaccine on February 27. Aquino did not drop any names, but his spokesman Abigail Valte wrote a column earlier that Erfe’s certification as a forensics expert was from a “certification mill” in the United States (US).

Erfe, who said that he did not think that Aquino would attack him like that, said that these kinds of lambasting to his credentials only surface when he is involved in controversial cases.

To defend his qualifications, Erfe said in the same interview that he graduated at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) College of Medicine, and studied forensics at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD).

He is also a fellow at six forensic organizations in US and Europe, which included American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI).

Valte in her column referred to ACFEI as a “certification mill.” Erfe clarified that certain blogs online have been criticizing the said institution, and he claimed that his critics are only associating these negative reviews on ACFEI to his relation to the dengue vaccine case.