Paknaan barangay workers undergo drug test.
CDN PHOTO/Norman Mendoza
Three job order employees of Barangay Paknaan in Mandaue City were found positive of illegal drug use during a surprise drug test conducted at the barangay’s gym yesterday morning.
Out of the 226 employees of the barangay, only 135 were present and have undergone the drug test.
Barangay Councilor Dulce Jumao-as said they will require the absent barangay workers to explain their failure to appear the supposed general meeting.
“Atong susihon kung justifiable ba ang ilang katarungan, dayon kinahanglan magpa-drug test dayon sila nga sila na’y mogasto (We’ll check if their reason is justifiable, then they will submit immediately themselves to drug test using their own money),” Jumao-as said.
Paknaan is the third barangay after Barangays Banilad and Cambaro that have undergone the surprise drug test of the Mandaue City government that started this month.
Around 60 government employees have already been tested positive since the start of the program.
Dr. Armindo Ceniza of the Mandaue City Health Office, who led the team conducting the drug test, said a person who does not take drugs in the last three days may still come out negative through urine examination, unless if the examination is done through blood sample or hair follicles.
The person who tested positive will shoulder the payment for the confirmatory testing that will be done in Manila. The confirmatory drug testing costs around P1,000.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is supporting the plan to conduct a drug test inside the Cebu City jail.
In an interview yesterday, Osmeña said the city is going to help shoulder the expenses for the drug testing.
However, he questioned the plan saying that the inmates are already imprisoned. “If they are found guilty they go to jail? They’re already in jail? What’s the whole point? But I think we should know,” he said.
Jail officers will also be included in the drug testing.
The plan for a drug testing is to check if the Cebu City Jail is a drug free place and to find out if there are still illegal drugs inside the jail.
The management of the Cebu City Jail asked the Cebu City Hall to pay for the drug testing kits worth P300,000 for about 4,000 inmates.
Arnel Peralta, the jail superintendent, made the request to Mayor Osmeña through a letter.
Osmeña said the money that would be used in the drug testing would be included in the supplementary budget. “We just have to source out the money, maybe just the supplemental budget,” he added.
However, Osmeña said that the city will not prioritize the drug testing of the inmates if the situation is not alarming. /With CNU Intern Christine Jane N. Paler