PDEA staff undergo surprise drug test

MANILA, Philippines - Some 400 employees of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency yesterday underwent a surprise drug test on orders of PDEA chief Director General Dionisio Santiago Jr.

“Everyone will undergo drug testing today. No one is allowed to leave the (PDEA) premises until after he or she has undegone the test,” Santiago announced to his surprised wards after flag-raising ceremonies at the national offices on NIA Road, Quezon City.

The drug test was conducted on PDEA personnel, including Santiago and director for operations and deputy director general Rodolfo Caisip and Director for Administration Roberto Santiago, of the command group, including those from PDEA national offices on NIA Northside St. in Barangay Pinyahan.

The PDEA shares the building and the premises at NIA Road with the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) headed in acting capacity by PASG chief Antonio Villar.

The test comes in the wake of the arrest of a PDEA prison guard and a former policeman in the raid of an allleged drug den in the same barangay by PDEA operatives some two weeks ago. Dionisio, however, denied the drug test for all PDEA personnel was “an offshoot of the PDEA jail guard’s arrest.”

“It was not an offshoot of the PDEA guard’s arrest but simply a routine test. We can’t call it that (offshoot of arrest).We conduct a yearly test for our personnel but it is something unannounced, a surprise,” said Derrick Carreon, PDEA public information chief, speaking in behalf of Santiago.

Carreon told The STAR that before anyone signs up to work at the agency or hired for any position there, he is told to comply with and undergo the test “anytime” when demanded by the authorities. “We want to maintain the agency’s integrity. We want it to be beyond reproach being the premier implementors of the war against the drug menace. It wouldn’t hurt that we conduct a drug test on our men every quarter or every semester of the year. So everyone will cast no doubts on  the (integrity) of PDEA personnel,” added Carreon in an interview yesterday.

Carreon said the results of the drug test will be available within 24 hours.

“Three days actually, including confirmatory tests for those found positive for illegal substance,” said Carreon.

Offenders will be treated according to the provisions of the law against illegal drugs. Carreon confirmed to The STAR that the test was conducted on all personnel starting from Santiago down to the last organic personnel of the agency.

Van Almenario of the PIO said the test was conducted by the Laboratory Services Division.

Santiago said in a statement that prison guard Nathaniel Nuñez, 31, and former policeman Dennis Camba allegedly maintained the drug den and were caught selling shabu to an undercover PDEA agent on Feb. 2, under their very noses in Barangay Pinyahan.

PDEA agents also arrested Rizalino Valenzuela, 31; and Maria Lucy Roda, 44; for allegedly sniffing shabu in the drug den. “The arrest of Nuñez emphasizes the continuing process of internal cleansing in the PDEA to ensure that all our officers and personnel maintain unquestionable integrity,” Santiago said.