Random drug test for Cebu City teachers

YOUNG

Cebu City’s 5,500 teachers will undergo random drug testing to save on time and expenses, City Councilor Joy Augustus Young said yesterday.

The councilor, who met with Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Bianito Dagatan, said they also had to consider the “schedule of classes” of the teachers in determining when to conduct the random drug tests.

Dagatan said they will also form a Drug-Free Workplace Committee as directed by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in keeping with the government’s anti-drug campaign.

“We will be randomly choosing the schools and then randomly choose the teachers from these schools undergo testing,” Dagatan said.

Based on a CSC circular, teaching and nonteaching staff who test positive for drug use will have 15 days to challenge the results and undergo drug testing in another lab.

Otherwise, the test results will be used to classify the level of the drug user.

Level 1 users are those starting out on drug use, while level 2 engage in irregular drug use. Those classified as level 3 are frequent drug users, Dagatan said.

Level 1 and 2 users will undergo counseling and regular drug testing, while level 3 users will face six months of rehabilitation.

All expenses will be paid for by the user who will then secure a clearance after completing the requirements.

Testing positive within the corrective period will result in dismissal from service.

The Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) will conduct the drug tests.

Councilor Young said the drug tests will be low-key to help teachers maintain their dignity towards their students.

“We don’t want to create a stigma on teachers to the extent that students will not respect them anymore,” he said.

In Mandaue City, 62 employees of Mandaue City Hall may lose their jobs even if results of their confirmatory test turn out negative for drug use.

Mandaue City Administrator Danilo Almendras said 62 employees tested positive of illegal drug use, but more than 10 employees turned out negative in the confirmatory test.

Of the 62 who tested positive since May, only 19 underwent confirmatory test.

Of that number, six employees still tested positive while 13 tested negative of drug use.

“So to those who did not submit for confirmatory test, goodbye to them. However, we will still look into their performance,” Almendras said.

More than 2,000 employees underwent drug tests since May this year.