DOTC chief to take drug test

Test me.

Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez issued this challenge yesterday as he expressed willingness to undergo examination for illegal drugs to end insinuations that he is a drug user.

"I don’t even smoke. How can I be a drug user?" he asked. "They can ask my colleagues in Congress and my other friends. They know that."

Alvarez was reacting to published blind items that one member of President Arroyo’s Cabinet is addicted to illegal drugs, particularly cocaine.

The alleged drug user was described as between 40 to 50 years old and is separated from his wife. The blind items also said that the Cabinet member is holding a sensitive department.

Incidentally, Alvarez is 43 years old and his marriage has recently been annulled.

Earlier, members of the Commission on Appointments (CA) said they would suggest that officials subject to CA’s confirmation be obliged to take a drug test.

Rep. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, a CA member from the opposition National People’s Coalition, said that the drug examination results be included among the documents officials should submit to the CA.

"We should not have drug users in the Cabinet. They should be in rehabilitation centers," he said.

Another CA member, Rep. Raoul del Mar of Cebu, said he is supporting the proposal. "The drug test should be part of our background check on them," he said.

President Arroyo herself urged her Cabinet members on Friday to undergo drug testing to dispel rumors that one of them is a habitual drug user.

Trade Secretary Mar Roxas and Energy Secretary Vicente Perez said they have submitted themselves to drug examination and that both of them have tested negative.

For his part, Alvarez said he is willing to go to the nearest drug testing center anytime to prove that he never used any illegal substance.

Alvarez has been criticized by opposition leaders for his alleged closeness to First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo who is embroiled in a controversy on an alleged bribery for the approval of a telecommunications franchise.

CA members have vowed to grill Alvarez also on the controversies surrounding the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 during the confirmation hearings.

The Transportation secretary said he is ready to answer all queries on the NAIA terminal as well as the granting of telecommunications franchises. "I am ready to face them (CA members)," he said. – Sheila Crisostomo