Ten town workers positive of drug use

CEBU, Philippines - At least 10 job order personnel and barangay tanods from the municipalities of Minglanilla and Carmen tested positive of illegal drug use during separate surprise drug tests. 

Of the 10 workers, five are JOs in Carmen town. A total of 218 employees of Carmen underwent drug testing last week.

The rest are tanods and an employee from Minglanilla—three each from Barangays Poblacion Ward 3 and Poblacion Ward 4, and one JO employee from Barangay Tunghaan.  The drug test was done over the weekend.

 The test result, however, is still subject to confirmatory test, according to the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO).

 CPADAO Executive Director Ivy Durano-Meca said Minglanilla and Carmen are the first two LGUs that went through drug tests.

 She said the respective LGUs will be the ones to sanction the employees if the confirmatory test, which will be out next month yet, would still yield positive results.

On the other hand, 21 personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Danao tested negative of traces of shabu during the drug test on January 1.

 In a separate development, 202 barangays are being validated by CPADAO whether or not they are indeed drug-free as declared earlier by the police.

 Meca said they have already validated at least 103 barangays, but none of them met the guidelines of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

 “It’s a long process for a barangay to be declared as drug-free. The barangays in the province are not drug-free yet based on our initial evaluation,” she said.

 She said the barangays still need to comply with the stipulations under the DDB, including the pre-operation, operation and post operation phases.

 She said, though, that these barangays can be cleared of drugs based on number of surrenderers and the decreasing supply of illegal drugs but the requirements of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC) must not be disregarded.

 “Ang CPADAO nakita nga pag-abot sa pre-operation phase ang BADAC sa mga barangay wala ma-capacitate, ika-2 dili tanan barangay ang adunay gitawag nga housing clusters o purok, ika-3 dili tanang local government units (LGUs) ang adunay ordinansa may labot sa barangay clearing operation ug ika-4 wala pay barangay ang adunay barangay rehabilitation desk,” she said.

 Meca said they are having difficulty implementing the operation phase because the application forms for voluntary and compulsory rehabilitation lack the pertinent information of the surrenderers.

 Meca said some barangays still do not have any action plan for the surrenderers and anti-illegal drug program, which are vital to fully implement the post-operation phase.

 She said they are now helping the barangays and BADAC comply with the guidelines of DDB and other existing regulations. (FREEMAN)