MANILA, Philippines – The graft complaint filed against executives of African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccine distributor KPP Powers Commodities Incorporated (KPP) is “baseless,” the company’s legal counsel told Rappler on Friday, August 23.
The complaint, filed by journalist Fermin Diaz before the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday, August 21, alleged the collusion of three KPP executives with incumbent and former officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Animal Industry, and Food and Drug Administration over the import and trials of Vietnam-made AVAC vaccines developed to fight ASF.
KPP’s legal counsel, Reynaldo Robles, said in a statement that the registration of the AVAC vaccine was in accordance with the government’s regulatory requirements.
“The vaccine has undergone extensive farm and commercial trials under the strict supervision and oversight of the government regulators, and its Certificate of Product Registration was approved based on its own merits, on basis of the result of excellent results of said trials and KPP Powers’ regulatory submissions,” KPP said.
Diaz’s filing of the graft complaint only validates their claim that he was “impelled by malice and ulterior motives” when the journalist went to press with a story on the AVAC vaccine, the agribusiness firm said.
KPP earlier filed a libel case against Diaz over the story. The case is now pending before a Regional Trial Court in Quezon City.
“As regards the Ombudsman case he filed, the same is completely baseless and is clearly intended for the sole purpose of harassing KPP and its officers, and we are confident that the same will ultimately be dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman for utter lack of merit,” KPP said.
The AVAC vaccine is the first commercially available vaccine against ASF. The government is poised to use 10,000 doses of the Vietnam-made vaccines, availed under emergency procurement, for controlled trials under monitored release.
The Philippines has seen a rise in active ASF cases in recent months, with Batangas declaring some towns under a state of calamity. In the past week, the DA has seized trucks of hogs with false paperwork.
KPP, which is based in Quezon City, imports and distributes feeds and animal nutrition products for livestock and poultry industry.
Its CEO, Pinky Pe Tobiano, is one of the respondents in the Ombudsman complaint together with KPP managing director Juan Carlos Robles and two other KPP executives. – Rappler.com
