Sandiganbayan acquits Janette Garin, former health officials in P3.56-B Dengvaxia case

ASM, Philippine Canadian Inquirer
October 14, 2026

Photo courtesy: Multiple Sources

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Health secretary and now Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin and four former health officials of graft and technical malversation charges stemming from the government’s P3.56-billion purchase of Dengvaxia vaccines in 2015.

In a 43-page decision promulgated October 13, the anti-graft court’s Special Second Division ruled that prosecutors failed to establish the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Also cleared were former Health undersecretaries Gerardo Bayugo and Kenneth Hartigan-Go, former DOH official Maria Joyce Ducusin, and former Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones. The court ordered the release of their cash bonds and the lifting of hold-departure orders issued in connection with the cases.

The criminal cases arose from the Aquino administration’s procurement of Dengvaxia for a school-based dengue immunization program. A Special Allotment Release Order issued in December 2015 provided P3,556,155,900 for the vaccine purchase.

Prosecutors argued that Garin and the other officials acted with evident bad faith in pursuing the procurement while the vaccine was not yet listed in the Philippine National Drug Formulary, as required under government drug-procurement rules.

The Sandiganbayan, however, found insufficient evidence of a fraudulent or dishonest purpose. It noted that the Department of Health had a mechanism allowing exemptions from the drug formulary requirement for national health programs. 

The court also cited testimony from Commission on Audit officials indicating that no government funds were found missing from the transaction. It said the prosecution had failed to establish that adverse consequences later associated with the vaccination program were the result of an unlawful or sinister intent by the officials who implemented it. 

On the technical malversation charge, the court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that the public funds had been applied to a purpose different from what was legally authorized.

Although Garin had requested the use of government savings for the vaccination program, the court noted that the authority to approve the augmentation ultimately rested with then-President Benigno Aquino III, acting through then-Budget secretary Florencio Abad. 

The Ombudsman filed the graft and technical malversation cases in 2023 over alleged irregularities surrounding the vaccine procurement. 

Garin welcomed the ruling, describing it as a vindication for scientists, doctors and public-health experts who supported vaccination programs. She also urged the public not to broadly discredit vaccines because of the Dengvaxia controversy. 

The Dengvaxia program became the subject of intense scrutiny after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur disclosed in 2017 that vaccination could increase the risk of severe dengue among people who had not previously been infected. The government subsequently suspended the school-based dengue vaccination program. 

The October 13 Sandiganbayan ruling resolves the graft and technical malversation charges covered by the case, although Garin has said she continues to face separate civil cases and another complaint before the Department of Justice.