10 barangay workers admit using drugs

CEBU, Philippines- Ten barangay employees in Cebu City have confessed to using illegal drugs during a random drug test conducted by the City Office for Substance Abuse and Prevention in Barangays San Roque and Apas.

Four of those who admitted using illegal drugs were barangay tanods of San Roque and six clean and green workers of Apas.

Dr. Alice Utlang, COSAP chief, said the four tanods refused to undergo the drug test and instead admitted using drugs. At least six clean and green workers in Apas also admitted using drugs and refused to take the test.

Utlang said 12 other tanods in San Roque underwent the drug test on September 5 and were all tested negative. She added that there were also 117 officials and employees of Apas who submitted themselves to the test yesterday. The results will be out today.

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is now acting mayor, urged those who were using illegal drugs to resign.

“If you are using illegal drugs, you have no business in government (office.) You should resign,” he said in an interview with reporters yesterday.

“I believe they (drug users) should stop working in the city government because there is a specific mandate in the constitution that once you become a public official, once you become a government employee, you should be physically and mentally healthy,” Labella added.

Using the illegal substance, he added, is a violation of the constitutional provision on the accountability of the public officers working in government office.

There are already 27 barangay employees tested positive of illegal drug use this year, 12 of them confessed to their being hooked with drugs.

Those barangay employees who admitted their drug problem will be enrolled automatically in the “We Care Program,” or the three-month out-patient rehabilitation program of the city government.

This intervention will assist drug users to stop from using illegal drugs and will remind them of the important preventive strategies that they need to observe, said Utlang.

The series of drug tests in the barangays is in accordance with the amended City Ordinance 1829 that requires barangay officials and employees to undergo the annual drug screening together with the city government officials and employees.

The original ordinance, approved in April 2000, was authored by Labella who was then a city councilor.  (FREEMAN)