By Hannah L. Torregoza
Sen. JV Ejercito said yesterday that former President Benigno S. Aquino III, while liable for negligence, does not deserve to be tagged as one of the primary conspirators in the government’s botched anti-dengue vaccination program.
Ejercito issued the statement a day after the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard J. Gordon, released the draft report on the Aquino administration’s controversial procurement of P3.5-billion worth of Dengvaxia from Sanofi Pasteur, the French manufacturer of the anti-dengue vaccine.
Ejercito, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said he believes former Budget and Health Secretaries Florencio “Butch” Abad and Janette L. Garin rightfully deserve to be considered the main conspirators in the case.
“I believe that while former President Benigno Aquino III is guilty of negligence for not exercising due diligence, it is his two Cabinet members who should be primarily held liable for the Dengvaxia mess that has endangered the lives of almost one million children,” Ejercito said.
