CHEd officials to join dialogue on drug tests

After barangay employees and officials, it’s now the turn of teachers and students to undergo random drug tests similar to what transpired in Barangay Quiot in this April 6, 2017 file photo.

Representatives of the regional Commission on Higher Education (CHEd-7) will attend the national public consultation on the proposed policies and guidelines and procedures for drug testing.

Regional CHEd Director Freddie Bernal said the drug-testing policy will apply to incoming and current students and is a requirement.

“We will choose 17 schools to send their representatives. This is also an opportunity for them (to attend),” Bernal told reporters in a press conference yesterday.

The public consultation will be held at CHEd Auditorium at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman in Quezon City on May 31.

About 300 representatives of schools around the country are expected to join the public hearing.

Bernal said the random drug testing should have been done before.

“Before it’s just random drug testing together with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), but that’s the campaign of the President now,” Bernal said.

PDEA-7 Regional Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz welcomed the news, saying it will be an effective deterrent to teachers and students tempted to use illegal drugs like shabu.

“Makita nila (students and teachers) the possibility that something worse will happen to them once they test positive of illegal drugs.

(The students and teachers will see the possibility that something worse will happen to them once they test positive of illegal drugs use),” Ruiz said.

Ruiz said they have been planning to conduct random drug tests especially on students, but human rights groups blocked their plan.

But since the Department of Education (DepEd) approved random drug testing, Ruiz said it would go a long way towards their campaign against illegal drugs in school campuses.