Vergeire, Duque dared: Tell court of Covid-19 deaths

THE chief of the Forensics Division of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has joined parentpetitioners in challenging acting Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire and ex-Health secretary Francisco Duque 3rd to show up and explain in court why there were thousands of Filipinos whose deaths were linked to Covid-19 vaccines.

Dr. Erwin Erfe, also a lawyer, said in an exclusive interview with The Manila Times that Vergeire and Duque should take the witness stand “to tell the world the real score” on the Covid-19 vaccines.

The parents, led by Girlie Samonte of Tondo, Manila, and Joel Corpuz of Rizal province, in separate interviews, dared Vergeire and Duque to take the stand “if they were not hiding anything about the Covid-19 vaccines.”

Judge Maria Cherell de CastroSansaet, of Quezon City-Regional Trial Court Branch 222, had given PAO, the petitioners’ counsel, at least 15 days to submit its formal offer of evidence after completing the presentation of evidence and witnesses.

The judge gave the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the counsel for respondents Vergeire, Duque and DoH’s Public Health Services Team the same period to file its comment but only when PAO is done submitting the formal offer.

The OSG was also ordered in 10 days to file a manifestation whether it is presenting evidence and witnesses.

“I want them (Vergeire and Duque) to explain personally why close to 3,000 Filipinos, some of them children, died after Covid-19 vaccinations,” Erfe said.

“Be at the witness stand and explain why the DoH should not be held liable for their untimely death,” he added.

Erfe was one of the four doctors who testified and claimed that the Covid-19 vaccines were already obsolete and the vaccination, especially of children, was unconstitutional.

Corpuz and Samonte said the DoH officials have been hiding the “ugly truth” about Covid-19 vaccines because they never divulged in public serious adverse effects like death.

“If you, Vergeire and Duque, are true to yourselves, you testify in court since it is now your turn, do not hide under the cloak of the OSG,” they also said in Filipino.

The case has been pending for over a year but the OSG has not filed affidavits of its witnesses.

The Times on Friday ran a story revealing a document from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that showed that a total of 2,801 Filipinos, 70 of them children, died after they were inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine.

The FDA’s “Reports of Suspected Adverse Reaction to Covid-19 Vaccines (March 1, 2021 to February 28, 2023)” indicated that the mean or the average age of the fatal cases was 59.14, with 56.52 percent or 1, 583 from victims who are more than 60 years old.

The reports said 765 (27.31 percent) of the cases were 40 to 59 years old, and 359 (.82 percent) were from 18 to 39 years old. They added that 53 cases (1.89 percent) were from 12 to 17 years old, and 17 (0.61 percent) were from 5 to 11 years old.

The ages of the remaining 24 fatalities, however, were not disclosed.

The FDA said the “reports of fatal outcomes do not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the events.”

Judge de Castro-Sansaet has scheduled the presentation of evidence by the respondents to the petition questioning the legality of vaccinating minors against Covid-19 on June 6 and June 27, 2023.

She said upon filing of the comment or the expiration of the period to file the same, “the formal offer shall be deemed submitted for resolution.”