Tourist police, 2 municipal employees fail drug test

A TOURIST police and two municipal employees were found positive of illegal drug use in two separate surprise drug tests conducted last week by the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO).

CPADAO Head Carmen Remedios “Ivy” Durano–Meca said the tourist police was from the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO).
Meca said that a confirmatory test will be done this week to validate the policeman’s guilt.

Senior Insp. Nazareno Emia, chief of the tourist police unit of CPPO, vowed that appropriate sanctions will be meted if the confirmatory test also turn out positive.

The policeman will be transferred to the Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (PHAU) of Police Regional Office (PRO–7) said Police Supt. Janeth Rafter, chief Provincial Investigation Detection Management Branch (PIDMB) of CPPO.

According to Rafter, the test result will be submitted to the Regional Internal Affairs Services (RIAS – 7) for investigation.

In Dumanjug town, a regular and a Job Order (JO) employee also tested positive of drug use in a surprise drug test last April 4.

Dumanjug Councilour Edwin Gica said the employees, if found guilty through a confirmatory test, will be dismissed from service. Their government benefits will also be forfeited and they could be imprisoned for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act.

“If their final findings would really determine that these two municipal employees were really using illegal drugs, then they must face the consequences of their actions,” Gica said in a text message.

Meanwhile, the Cebu provincial government is on track of winning its fourth Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Award from the Department of Local and Interior Government (DILG) due to its high number of drug cleared and sustained barangays.

For this year, Meca said among the criteria set by DILG for the SGLG under the peace and order qualifier is the utilization of at least 75 percent of the budget allocation for the anti-drug programs and that 20 percent of the barangays in the province should be drug free.

To meet this, the province must have at least 213 drug-free barangays. But presently, only 160 of Cebu’s 1,066 barangays are declared drug free and sustained while another 30 are in the care of the CPADAO’s oversight committee.

Meca said that the 30 barangays only lack the onsite validation for the approval of their community-based treatment program to be declared as drug free.

The oversight committee that conducts onsite validation is composed of CPADAO and representatives from CPPO, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the Department of Health (DOH).

Meca said that they will be conducting an onsite validation in the 25 barangays of Tabogon town on April 18 to 20.

DILG’s data gathering for the SGLG awards will start in the last week of April until the second week of May.