VACC will file plunder case against Benigno Aquino & Janette Garin, for the P3.5-billion dengue vaccine mess?

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) will file plunder complaints against ranking officials, who may possibly include the former president Benigno Aquino III and the former Health secretary Janette Garin, for the P3.5-billion dengue vaccine mess.

If they filed, it would be the third criminal complaint lodged against the ex-officials for their involvement in the Dengvaxia deal issue.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio of the VACC told reporters at a news forum on Saturday that while the list of the respondents has yet to be finalized,then Aquino and Garin are among the "persons of interest."

The complaint will be filed before the Department of Justice in one to two weeks, Topacio said.

“Tapos na po halos lahat ng affidavits ng mga witnesses namin for the plunder case,” he said, adding their evidence is a money trail sniffed out by the National Bureau of Investigation, the details of which he did not disclose.

Topacio also said two other persons of interest have been added to the initial list of names that Dr. Francis Cruz, an ex-consultant of former Health chief Paulyn Ubial, alleged were part of a “mafia”at the Department of Health.

He did not name the new persons of interest, but claimed those involved “go up to the highest levels of governance of the previous administration, meaning the former president and down the line.”

Topacio also said the VACC found other potential violations during the course of its investigation that would be used as grounds for another complaint to be filed next week, but again refused to disclose details.

The former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and former Iloilo representative Augusto Syjuco Jr. in December sued Aquino and Garin for mass murder and plunder over the vaccine controversy.

A week later, party-list group Gabriela slapped a graft complaint against Aquino and other officials for the said controversy.

The Dengvaxia vaccine and the officials who were involved in its multi-billion purchase and incorporation into the government's dengue immunization program caught attention after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur released an advisory in November last year, which said the vaccine may worsen dengue in some cases.