Duterte urges gov’t agencies: Cooperate in Dengvaxia inquiry

FILE: President Rodrigo Duterte (SIMEON CELI JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte urged government agencies to work closely with one another in conducting a probe over the now-suspended dengue vaccination program, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque disclosed on Wednesday.

“Ang mandato ng Presidente: mag-imbestiga. Paano naman matatapos ang imbestigasyon kung hindi nagtutulungan (Our President’s mandate is to investigate. How could we finish the probe without cooperation)?” Roque was quoted as saying in an ABS-CBN report.

The government’s immunization program launched during the Aquino administration vaccinated at least 833,000 public school pupils. This was called off late last year after the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur admitted that the vaccine could cause severe dengue if given to a person who has not been infected with the mosquito-borne disease.

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) was tasked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct autopsies on the deaths linked to the Dengvaxia vaccine. However, Doctors for Public Welfare (DPW) urged the DOJ to stop PAO from performing autopsies on the bodies of children and leave the matter of determining the cause of death to “competent” forensic pathologists.

The DPW, led by former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, pointed out that a clinical review done by forensic pathologists of state-owned Philippine General Hospital (PGH) showed that the deaths of those vaccinated children were not related to Dengvaxia.

This call was, however, rejected by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, saying that he had no order to halt the autopsies.

On the other hand, PAO refused to cooperate with the PGH panel of experts, alleging that the latter has a connection with Sanofi. The PGH experts, who were tapped by the Department of Health (DOH), brushed off this accusation.

The Palace official said all government employees must coordinate with each other unless there is evidence that an agency double-crossed public interest.

“Kung mayroon naman silang reklamo sa isang ahensya na sa tingin nila ay nagiging traydor sa ating publiko, e ‘di idulog nila sa Palasyo. Pero hanggang walang ganyang ebidensya naman, inaasahan ng Palasyo na lahat ay nagtutulungan (If they have complaints against an agency which they think is betraying the public, then they should seek help from the Palace. But unless there is no evidence, the Palace is expecting everyone to cooperate in the investigation),” he said.

“Matindi rin ang kalaban dito — isang multi-national company. Habang nagbabangayan, siguro natutuwa ang multi-national company na iyan (The enemy here is tough — a multi-national company. While we are having arguments, perhaps the firm is rejoicing),” he added.

Roque said that these agencies should await further instruction from Malacañang regarding the issue.

On Tuesday, February 27, the House opposition bloc urged Duterte to “intervene” in his administration’s efforts to probe the deaths of children who were vaccinated with the controversial anti-dengue vaccine amid apparent quarrel among government agencies.

Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano said that it should be Duterte who should fix the problem and order PAO chief Persida Acosta to work with the PGH experts and the DOH and stop her pseudo forensic intervention.