Suspended Ermita barangay captain Felicisimo “Emok” Rupinta cracks some jokes as his urine samples were being tested for traces of drugs. The testing was supervised by Councilor Dave Tumulak (second from right) and ABC president Philip Zafra (right). (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Barangay captains in Cebu City underwent a surprise drug test on Wednesday afternoon at the Senior Citizens building in the South Road Properties (SRP).
Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra said he invited all barangay captains for an ABC meeting today to discuss several concerns including their upcoming meeting with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Isidro Lapeña on March 30.
Zafra said he only told the barangay captains in attendance about the drug test this afternoon when they were already in the meeting venue.
“We also want that by March 30, during our meeting with Director Lapeña, we will be able to boast that we are already doing our own internal cleansing in Cebu City,” Zafra told reporters.
The test was conducted by the Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP).
Unlike in previous instances, the barangay captains were immediately informed of the result of their tests with Zafra, Utlang, and Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak acting as witnesses.
According to COSAP head Dr. Alice Utlang, this is to prove to the barangay captains that there are no shenanigans in the determination of the tests from their urine samples.
Utlang said that they will also not disclose how many of the barangay captains were found initially positive of illegal drugs use.
She said it will only be revealed once they are done with the confirmatory tests which will be known within two weeks to one month from now.
These were among the changes made by COSAP following last year’s controversy wherein Busay Barangay Captain Amilo Lopez was revealed to have initially tested positive.
Lopez denied it and after confirmatory tests, it was found that he was negative.
Lopez, in fact, requested that he would not join the testing with COSAP saying he was still traumatized from what happened to him the last time.
He suggested that he would just have himself tested in a different government-run drug testing center together with representatives from the city government to witness him.
If not today, he will have the test by tomorrow, Thursday.
Zafra said they understand Lopez and allowed him to skip the test and have it in another facility as he planned.
As of 3 p.m., 52 of the 80 barangay captains in the city have already finished their drug testing.