I AM NEGATIVE: Newly installed PRO-7 director Police Chief Supt. Noli Taliño shows results of a drug test conducted on him as he led policemen in a surprise drug test yesterday after the ceremonial change of command at Camp Sergio Osmeña. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
LEADERSHIP by example.
That was what newly installed Police Regional Office (PRO-7) director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño showed yesterday when he led at least 300 Central Visayas police officers in a surprise drug test conducted on policemen as part of efforts to clean their own ranks.
Taliño reminded policemen of President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to curb if not eliminate illegal drugs in the country in the coming months.
“I still have not received the reports on policemen who tested positive but once I have it, we will initiate investigations on them. If you are tested and confirmed positive on taking illegal drugs, you will have to undergo investigations,” said Taliño.
Policemen lined up right outside PRO-7’s chapel and took the second round of the surprise drug test yesterday morning.
Last week, authorities ran the first round of the surprise drug testings with 500 personnel screened out of the 7,723 policemen and staff members of PRO-7.
The rest will be tested within the week, said Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, PRO-7 deputy regional chief for operations.
Lawas said that they are still working to confirm initial results of last week’s surprise drug tests, wherein police personnel from the Highway Patrol Group, Bohol and Dalaguete were discovered to have been using illegal drugs.
Their names were withheld pending the release of the confirmatory test results.
Meanwhile, SPO1 Rey Manatad, a radio operator at the Mandaue City Police Office, stopped reporting for work after he was found positive of illegal drugs in a drug test conducted last May 23.
Test results from the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory 7 also confirmed that Manatad had been using drugs, said Chief Inspector Jonathan Cabal, Mandaue City Police Office chief.
Even if Manatad will undergo rehabilitation, Cabal said, the police officer will still face administrative charges for possible dismissal./UP Cebu Intern Morexette Marie Erram