Job order worker, applicant test positive for drug use

A JOB order employee and an applicant tested positive for drug use in a surprise drug test conducted on municipal workers of Alcoy town, southern Cebu.
Joey Herrera, head of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CPADAC), said the job order employee also tested positive for drug use last year.
The random drug testing was held at the town hall’s conference room around 9 a.m yesterday.
Herrera said 60 employees were asked to take the test but only 32 showed up.
Thirty workers submitted their urine samples.
Herrera said Alcoy Mayor Nicomedes delos Santos gave the job order employee a chance and hoped that this year’s test would already yield negative results.
The applicant was also asked to take the test as a pre-employment requirement.
A regular employee and another job order worker skipped the drug test.
Delos Santos told Cebu Daily News that the regular employee left but he filled out the form.
The job order employee left after signing the attendance sheet.
CPADAC personnel waited for the two workers until 2 p.m. but they didn’t show up.
Operatives of the Alcoy Police Station were asked to find the two employees but failed to track them down.
The mayor said the employees who avoided yesterday’s drug test were found positive for drug use last year.
Delos Santos said second chances will no longer be given to those who flunked the test.
“I already gave them a chance. I will no longer accept them in our town,” the mayor said.
It was the second time the municipal employees in Alcoy underwent drug test.
In October last year, five employees were tested positive in the confirmatory test.
It was the second time this year that CPADAC conducted a surprise drug test for municipal workers.
Last January 20, random drug testing was conducted in Argao town where three among 56 employees tested positive for drug use.
Herrera said a total of 1,037 town and city employees underwent drug testing since last year. Forty-seven were found positive.
Also, of the 533 employees in the seven Capitol offices, 21 were found positive for drug use last year.