AGROUP of parents whose children’s deaths were linked to the Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine on Monday welcomed the filing of complaints against former Health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin and three others.

Samahan ng mga Magulang ang mga Anak ay Biktima ng Dengvaxia (SMABD) administrator Sumachen Dominguez told The Manila Times they were delighted upon learning that the Office of the Ombudsman has filed criminal complaints against Garin and three others before the Sandiganbayan for alleged illegal use of public funds.

Garin’s co-respondents were former Department of Health (DoH) undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go, former DoH director Maria Joyce Ducusin, and former Philippine Children’s Medical Center executive director Julius Lecciones.

The anti-graft body said Garin and the three other respondents allegedly purchased Dengvaxia vaccines illegally, using the budget of the DoH’s Expanded Program on Immunization.

In an exclusive interview, Sumachen said that the parents were ecstatic upon learning that the Ombudsman pursued the filing of criminal complaints against Garin.

‘”Although the filing of the criminal complaints against Garin and the other co-respondents should have been made a long time ago, we are still happy because finally, the Ombudsman is now doing its job,” Sumachen said in Filipino.

She said they believed that the Ombudsman had sufficient evidence to pin Garin and her corespondents down.

“Garin deserves to rot in jail because she was the principal authority who implemented the mass vaccination in 2016 until the following year that resulted in the untimely death of our children,” Sumachen said.

“She must be jailed and held criminally liable to serve as an example to discourage others who would try to do the same thing at the expense of the innocent people, especially the children,” she added.

In his judicial affidavit that was submitted to the Quezon City-Regional Trial Court, Dr. Anthony “Tony” Leachon, who also testified against the anti-dengue vaccine, claimed there was an irregularity in the procurement of Dengvaxia by the DoH under Garin’s leadership.

Dr. Erwin Erfe, director of the Public Attorney’s Office-Forensics Laboratory Division, was the last prosecution witness who testified that the cause of death of an initial batch of eight schoolchildren was severe adverse reactions after being inoculated with the controversial anti-dengue vaccine.

Aside from the four respondents, other accused in the reckless imprudence resulting in a homicide case filed before the sala of Judge Maria Luisa Leslie Gonzales-Betic were Dr. Vicente Belizario, Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, Dr. Rosalind Vianzon, Dr. Maria Lourdes Santiago, Dr. Mario Baquilod, Dr. Maria Rose Capeding, Conchita Santos and Carlito Realuyo and vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. executives Stanislaw Camart, Jean Louise Grunwald and Jean Francois Vacherrand.

On the other hand, Garin welcomed the filing of criminal complaints against her and her co-respondents, saying she would now have time and proper venue to clear her name as she insisted she is innocent of the charges leveled against her.