City execs: Teacher should be sanctioned

Impose sanctions on the teacher.

Cebu City officials made this call on Friday after learning about a teacher of Alaska Elementary School in Barangay Mambaling, who refused to undergo a surprise drug test last Tuesday.

Gary Lao, Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) head, said what the teacher did could be considered as gross insubordination.

“I want the teacher to be given sanctions. I don’t like that Cosap becomes a laughingstock. We facilitated the drug tests, and here comes a teacher who is supposed to be a role model to students who did not submit his urine sample,” Lao said.

Cebu City Councilor Joy Augustus Young, deputy mayor on education, agreed with Lao.

He cited Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 37 series of 2017, where it stated that it would be considered an administrative liability of gross insubordination if an official or employees would refuse, without any valid reason, to submit himself to a drug test.

“What he did is gross insubordination because that is in the DepEd order. He will be asked to explain. It’s SOP (standard operating procedure) in Deped,” Young said.

Lao said that when Cosap conducted the surprise drug testing for teachers and non-teaching personnel of Alaska Elementary School, the teacher refused to submit his urine sample because he was not feeling well.

Lao, however, said that this was not a valid reason not to submit one’s urine sample for the test.

Lao said that Dr. Bianito Dagatan, DepEd Cebu City Schools Division superintendent, would issue a memo asking the teacher to explain his side of the issue.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, for his part, said he would want something done about what happened.

“If he did not like to undergo drug testing, I think he should be out in the DepEd. I’d let Joy Young handle that,” Osmeña said during a press briefing yesterday.

Both Young and Lao said that the teacher would be asked to take a drug test again in another undisclosed schedule together with other teachers who were absent during the drug testing in their respective schools.

Cosap started the random surprise drug tests on public elementary and high schools in the city last Monday upon the request of DepEd Cebu City Schools Division.

They had since conducted surprise drug tests in 12 schools.

Cosap’s records showed that 251 teachers had already undergone drug testing.

All were found negative of illegal drugs use.

Another 12 were absent during the drug testing while one refused to undergo the test. /With USJ-R Intern Kristine Q. Remolisan