Senator Nancy Binay has signed a draft committee report on the Dengvaxia controversy recommending the filing of charges against former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his officials.
“I signed already,” Binay told reporters on Monday, April 16.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Richard Gordon, is seeking the prosecution of Aquino and his officials “for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths” resulting from his administration’s scrapped P3.5 billion dengue vaccination program.
Binay, however, said she “may amend” and interpellate once the draft report is tackled in the plenary.
“‘Yung (The) committee report, it’s not yet the final report,” Binay noted.
“Pagdedebatehan at pag-uusapan pa ‘yan at ide-defend pa ‘yan sa floor so hintayin na lang natin ‘yung magiging deliberation na magaganap sa floor (There will be debate and discussions so let’s wait for the floor deliberation),” she added.
The committee is recommending Aquino to be charged with violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Also tagged as “primary conspirators” in the procurement of the controversial vaccine were former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and former Health Secretary Janette Garin.
“Aquino, Garin, Abad and other officials are primary conspirators and must be held criminally liable… and must be prosecuted for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program,” the draft report stated.
Aside from Binay, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senators JV Ejercito, Gregorio Honasan II, and Juan Miguel Zubiri, also reportedly signed the draft report.
Senators Leila de Lima and Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, expressed against the signing the draft committee report, describing it as Gordon’s attack against Aquino.
“The Gordon Report is as malicious as it is pre-ordained. It is made-to-order in accordance with Gordon’s political agenda,” De Lima said in a handwritten statement.
Lacson, for his part, claimed Gordon was supposedly “directing the investigation to suit the outcome that he had desired from the very start.”
