FLORA, Apayao—Public officials and employees of the Local Government Unit here, mostly women, joined a mass drug testing activity on Aug. 4.
The mandatory drug test was conducted by the Cordillera Administrative Region regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at the Dr. Efren U. De San Jose Memorial Sports Center, where 201 individuals—115 females and 86 males—submitted urine samples for testing.
The samples were brought to Baguio City for proper evaluation, with the results to be submitted later to Mayor Rodolfo B. Juan.
In an orientation before the activity, PDEA assured the testers that the results will be strictly confidential and to be released only to the Mayor’s office.
Mayor Juan, Vice Mayor Jessica L. De San Jose, and all the members of the Sangguniang Bayan, all heads of municipal departments, all chairmen of the 16 barangays of Flora, and some barangay kagawad (council) members lined up for the test.
The local Philippine National Police force, including Municipal Police Station chief Ruben Labutan, also joined the activity.
Local employees of national line agencies, including the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Commission on Elections, the Department of Health, and former town employees under job order who are submitting new applications to various positions under contract of service that were recently created through local legislation likewise submitted to the test.
A suspect accused of allegedly raping his own daughter was escorted by a police officer as he was ordered to undergo the same drug test.
Catherine Ortega, Municipal Human Resource Management officer, said the mandatory drug test is required by the Civil Service Commission for all regular employees of the government.
Vice Mayor De San Jose said she will be very sorry for those who would be tested positive.
“We cannot do anything about them if they are found positive. There are many others who can qualify for such vacant positions if need be,” she said.
Part of the day’s activity was a symposium on President Rodrigo Duterte’s efforts to change the form of government from unitary to federal system, conducted by the DILG regional office, the local DILG office and LGU-Flora.