REJECTING a petition of the defendants in the Dengvaxia cases, the Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the ruling of four Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC-RTC) judges who all agreed to consolidate all civil cases filed before them.
Associate Justice Angelene Mary Quimpo-Sale ruled against the two consolidated petitions for certiorari that sought to annul and set aside the orders of Judges Luisito Cortez (Branch 84), Juris Dilinila-Callanta (Branch 85), Marilou Runes-Tamang (Branch 98) and Manuel Sta. Cruz Jr (Branch 226).
“Finding the public respondents’ (QC judges) acts in issuing the assailed orders to be reasonable and the orders for consolidation were not rendered with grave abuse of discretion, the petitions therefore cannot be granted,” the appellate court’s ruling, promulgated last month, said.
“Accordingly, the consolidated petitions for certiorari are dismissed,” Quimpo-Sale said.
The magistrate in her ruling said that the consolidation of the cases will admittedly entail a longer period of time for the resolution of the cases.
However, Quimpo-Sale explained that the right to speedy disposition of the cases should be considered in connection with the orderly administration of justice.
“In the long-run, all parties concerned — plaintiffs, defendants and trial courts — will benefit in the consolidation for trial of the cases,” she said.
The court added that the rationale of the consolidation is to have all cases, “which are intimately related,” acted upon by one branch of the court, which would be Branch 226, to avoid the possibility of conflicting decisions being rendered and “in effect, prevent confusion, unnecessary costs and delay.”
“Therefore, consolidation will bring about the administration of justice in a systematic, orderly manner with the least vexation and costs on all parties,” the magistrate said.
In the same decision of the court’s Special 11th Division, it noted the motion of the families and relatives of several schoolchildren, whose deaths were linked to the controversial and banned anti-dengue vaccine, requesting for the designation of a special court to hear and decide the civil cases on Dengvaxia.
Also, it cited a Supreme Court’s notice that issued a resolution assigning the family courts in Quezon City to exclusively handle and try all Dengvaxia-related criminal cases.
However, the notice remained silent on the request for designation of a special court in QC-RTC TRO to hear and decide the civil cases on Dengvaxia, said Quimpo-Sale.
“Furthermore, transfer of venue is different from consolidation. When cases are tried in the same venue, this does not necessarily mean that the cases are consolidated and tried jointly in the same venue,” she pointed out.
With former Health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin as the principal accused, her other co-accused include executives of Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and distributor Zuellig Pharma and officials of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and Food and Drug Administration.
They face criminal cases of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, violation of the Anti-Torture Law (Republic Act 9745), violation of the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) and violation of the Philippine Pharmacy Act (RA 10918).
The Public Attorney’s Office has been assisting the families and relatives of the victims in the civil cases.
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