Drilon casts dissenting vote on Dengvaxia report

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon cast a dissenting vote on the committee report issued by Sen. Richard Gordon regarding the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy, which he said made several conclusions that were not supported by evidence.

In a 30-page dissenting vote on the committee report addressed to Gordon as chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, Drilon said he does not concur with his findings, particularly on the recommendation to file criminal charges against former president Benigno Aquino III, former budget secretary Florencio Abad, former health secretary Janette Garin and other officials because of how they supposedly conspired to facilitate the procurement of the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia during an election year.

“Upon careful review of the draft report, I would like to inform you that I disagree with its findings, conclusions and recommendations,” said Drilon, who as minority leader is an ex-officio member of the Blue Ribbon committee.

In his dissenting vote, Drilon said it is not proper to “select segments of evidence that fit our desired conclusion while hiding or ignoring those that tend to refute it.”

Drilon said there is no evidence so far to support a correlation between the administration of Dengvaxia and the reported deaths of individuals who were injected with the vaccine.

“We found no conclusive scientific evidence to support the conclusion that any of the reported deaths were in any way connected to Dengvaxia,” Drilon said.

He said only qualified pathologists could make such conclusion after a thorough study of the matter. 

“Declaring certain personalities guilty at this point would not only be premature but would also reinforce impressions of the politicization of a legitimate public health concern that must be addressed in a clinical manner,” he added.

However, he said that “if and when it is indubitably established that Dengvaxia is the proximate cause of the deaths in question, all those involved should be made to account without exception.”

Drilon pointed out that Dengvaxia was administered to 280,000 children during the Aquino administration, but this went up to 400,000 during the term of President Duterte and his former health secretary Paulyn Ubial.

He said there was no basis for the committee’s recommendation to file charges against Aquino and his cabinet members for violation of the Revised Penal Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Civil Code and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Drilon, a former justice secretary, explained that for an intentional felony to exist, the person should have acted by means of dolo or with malice.