THE Supreme Court has ordered a Quezon City family court to begin the trial of the second batch of 35 Dengvaxia cases, which have been delayed by the inhibition of judges.
THE Supreme Court has ordered a Quezon City family court to begin the trial of the second batch of 35 Dengvaxia cases, which have been delayed by the inhibition of judges.In a letter to Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Rosanna Fe Romero-Maglaya, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, Office of the Court Administrator Assistant Court Administrator Lilian Barribal-Co directed the transfer of the records of the cases to Branch 102 under Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert.
The first batch of eight cases, which involved the same number of complainants of parents and relatives of children whose deaths were linked to the controversial anti-dengue vaccine, have been dismissed by another judge, Cleto Villacorta III, of Branch 228 late last year.Villacorta's ruling has been questioned by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra before the Court of Appeals.On a motion by the panel of prosecution led by City Chief Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Irene Resurreccion-Medrano, Villacorta inhibited himself from further handling the 35 cases.The case was raffled off to the sala of Branch 86 Judge Roslyn Rabara-Tria, who also recused herself because her husband was a counsel for two of the respondents.Another family court judge, Mary Ayn Punzalan-Toribio, of Branch 99, took over the case, but she, too, inhibited, citing Section 1, Rule 137 of the Rules of Court which provides that 'a judge may, in the exercise of his sound discretion, disqualify himself from sitting in a case.'The case was re-raffled, this time to the sala of Burgos-Villavert, who moved to return the case records to Punzalan-Toribio, saying the latter's voluntary inhibition was premature.Burgos-Villavert said the parties were not given the opportunity to decide 'whether the ground for such is immaterial or unsubstantial.'Citing an OCA circular, Barribal-Co said that judges designated to hear an inhibited case or to whom the case was re-raffled 'cannot raise the issue of the propriety of the exercise of the discretion of judges to disqualify themselves.'Being the judge to whom the criminal cases were re-raffled, 'it is incumbent upon Judge Burgos-Villavert to immediately take cognizance of the cases and try the same,' Barribal-Co said.Barribal-Co went on to say that the rules on voluntary inhibition did not give judges 'the unfettered discretion to desist from hearing a case.'She reiterated that Burgos-Villavert 'should try and hear the Dengvaxia cases.'Accused with former Department of Health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin were the top executives of vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and vaccine distributor Zuellig Pharma and officials of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippine Children's Medical Center, and Food and Drug Administration.
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