EX-FDA head cleared of graft raps over closure of doctor’s anticancer center
The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft case filed against a former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for shutting down a cancer treatment center in Tarlac province allegedly without due process and depriving the owner of the opportunity to practice her profession as a doctor.
In its Nov. 7 decision, the antigraft court’s Third Division said the evidence presented by the prosecution “could not simply sustain a verdict of conviction” against former FDA Director General Nela Puno, noting that some of the documents offered were “contradictory rather than corroborative.”
It also noted that the immediate execution of the 2018 closure order issued by Puno was grounded on public health as the food and health products associated with Dr. Farrah Agustin-Bunch, the owner of the cancer center in Victoria, Tarlac, had earlier been flagged by the FDA.
In her complaint, Bunch accused Puno of “acting in bad faith, gross negligence and grave abuse of authority” when the FDA official allegedly ignored the answer to a complaint made against the Dr. Farrah Bunch Natural Medical Center without regard for “due process.”
Puno’s order issued in August 2018 resulted in the closure of the cancer treatment facility.
“The seizure of the unregistered products and the order to padlock the medical center are mere reiterations and continuations of the previous directive of accused Puno” through an FDA order and a summon with preventive measure order, read the 43-page decision written by Associate Justice Ronald Moreno.
Thus, the court pointed out, it was only “logical” that the FDA imposed the immediate closure order of the Bunch-owned facility.
It also refuted Bunch’s claims that the FDA order took away her right to practice as a doctor and affected her livelihood.
“There is no truth that Dr. Bunch had no income when the medical center was closed pursuant to the decision … From the start of the 2018 calendar year until … the closure of her medical center on July 27, 2018, Dr. Bunch did not collect any professional fees from her patients,” the Sandiganbayan said.
