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Raps up vs. anti-meningo drug firm

BAGUIO CITY (May 18, 2006)— Baguio City has rapped a drug firm offering a vaccine against meningococcemia for its paid advertisement on a national daily that has given damaging publicity for this highland resort city.

Although believing it is a test case, City Legal Officer Melchor Rabanes said there is really a cause for action because Quezon City-based Global Vaccine Xpress Inc. (Glovax) has maligned the good reputation of the city and its people.

The civil complaint for damages being sought by Mayor Braulio Yaranon in the Regional Trial Court here totals to P3 million.

The case arises from Glovax’s paid advertisement on a national daily last April 2, 2006 promoting and selling its product labeled as Euro A&C which is purportedly a vaccine against the dreaded meningococcemia disease, and using as background photographs of the Banaue Rice Terraces and the Lion’s Head along Kennon.

Yaranon claimed the manner by which Glovax presented the advertisement conveys in the public mind and the reading public the negative message amd impression that Baguio City and the Cordillera region are stalked and plagued by the dreaded meningococcemia disease, when this is not the real scenario.

Baguio City further claimed in its complaint that Glovax’s advertisement scared tourists causing setbacks on its tourist industry.

Atty. Rabanes said, just as the advertisement went out, members and officials of the Baguio Association of Hotels Inns and Restaurants (BAHAI) burned telephone lines to city officials seeking an explanation.

The act of Glovax, Yaranon complained, is unfair and unjust and should be answerable for all the damaging effects, whether foreseen or unforeseen.

Baguio City residents, Rabanes said, is invoking a violation of Article 19 of the Civil Code that provides that every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due and observe honesty and good faith. Glovax “in using as background in its aforesaid published advertisement the Baguio Lion’s Head without consent and permission from the City of Baguio.

Rabanes also claimed that Glovax violated Articles 20 and 21 of the same Civil Code that provides indemnificatio compensation for the damage caused by the advertisement.

Rabanes also claimed Glovax “is not even a registered manufacturer, imported or supplier by the government-run Bureau of Food and Drugs. Neither are its products also registered with BFAd, he further claimed. # Ace Alegre for NORDIS

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