How accurate are LTO drug tests?

I’ve heard many horrible tales about those drug tests to get a driver’s license. But what happened to my friend Edgar is the worst. It’s not the usual complaint about results of negative drug traces being given for a "fee" even before urine samples are submitted. And it’s not really about Edgar, but his sweet 22-year-old daughter, who is fresh out of college.

The girl went to the Land Transportation Office three weeks back to renew her license, dutifully passing by an accredited urine-test clinic with her little bottle. Instead of getting the test result within minutes like all the other applicants, she was told to come back after a week. She thought little of it, but returned seven days later when her license was about to expire on her birthdate. She got the most shocking present of her life: her test showed traces of marijuana.

Edgar was aghast at the news. A leader of a Catholic renewal group for over a decade who raised his children to be religious, his first impulse was to lecture his daughter about lying. But the girl swore she never toked weed. Why would she, how could she, when most of her extracurricular activities were in the service of God, organizing youth prayer meetings as her devout parents do for married couples?

Edgar took her to the UERM Hospital for verification. A new drug test proved negative for marijuana or any other prohibited substance. Armed with the findings, they returned to the first clinic to say there must have been a mistake. "No, we never make mistakes," the supervisor told them. The reason it had taken days for the result to be given was because he had sent it to the head office for confirmation of the initial result. But couldn’t the girl’s urine sample have been inadvertently switched with one of the dozens of others that day? "Impossible," the supervisor dismissed them without explaining the supposed fool-proof system. In this day and age, when newborn babies can be switched in hospital nurseries even in very organized societies in Europe and America, Edgar had good reason to doubt the outfit’s labelling procedure. More so since everything’s topsy-turvy as in most LTO clinics.

Edgar went to the LTO branch head to appeal. The latter said he can do nothing about it since UERM is not an accredited tester unlike the ramshackle clinic. In fact, the girl’s license already had been revoked. She cannot apply for a new one until after six months. Meanwhile, her name has been submitted to the computer blacklist to prevent her from getting a license in other LTO branches.

Fine, Edgar thought, his daughter can try again. No big deal.

Except that, she’s in the middle of job hunting and has to drive herself to a number of big firms for interviews. Worse, she now has this blot on her personal record which not only can botch her placement but also haunt her for the rest of her life.

Father and daughter decided to appeal to higher authorities at the LTO head office. For good measure, they dropped by the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame for a second verification test. Again, the test registered negative for marijuana and other drugs. Traces of marijuana linger for months in a user’s bloodstream, unlike shabu which can be washed off within a week. Two drug tests only days apart, both showing negative results, bolster the conclusion that the LTO clinic’s is flawed. The transportation secretary and the LTO director, both former PNP chiefs, wouldn’t belittle the crime lab’s output.

The manager at the LTO main said they are only following strict procedures. They cannot undo the results and issue a license, lest they be accused of favoritism or even graft. Bending the rules to favor his daughter had never crossed Edgar’s mind at all. The Bible teaches obedience to the laws of God and man. All he wants is a chance for redress under proper procedures, if any. Any parent would seek that for a child he knows is striving to keep to the straight and narrow path.

The manager said that, of 4,000 renewers to date whose licenses had been revoked for testing positive for drugs, Edgar’s daughter was the first ever to complain. That, Edgar noted, does not prove a flawless system but the acknowledgment of their drug use. But the truth is that his daughter is not into it, as the two verification tests prove it.

In the end, the manager said she believes the girl is telling the truth, and that the UERM and PNP tests are accurate. She said the girl could have inhaled a marijuana user’s second-hand smoke at a party. More likely, she could be taking medications that marred the test. The girl indeed is into Chinese growth pills, oolong and green tea, and energy vitamins. On the day of her LTO test, she had taken antacid and attapulgite for bum stomach. Yet the clinic did not give her the required form on which to write what medications the applicant was taking. From that lapse alone, she should have been given a second chance. But what’s done is done, the manager shrugged, "It’s simply your daughter’s misfortune to have such test result."

What, just like that? Charge it to experience? Grin and bear the black mark on his innocent daughter’s name? The manager advised Edgar to go to the Dangerous Drugs Board. But the officer there told him they have no jurisdiction over LTO matters. So what now?

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Looking for a place to go during the long All Saints Day weekend? There are oodles of day tours to Southern Tagalog, where resorts and travel agents have been enjoying a boom since 9/11 scared people from flying. Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Quezon boast of mountain parks, lake or riverside picnic groves and sandy beaches.

But if you want a longer holiday with family or friends, drive all the way up to Ilocos. Along MacArthur Highway , you’ll pass through Gerona, Tarlac, where you can buy Christmas lanterns this early. Make a side trip to Dagupan to feast on talaba and Bonuan bangus. From there. you can take the scenic seaside route through Damortis and Agoo, La Union. Right past San Fernando City is the sleepy town of San Juan, where you can buy clay pots and jars by the roadside.

Vigan is a must-see in Ilocos Sur. Antiques are for sale in 17th-century houses at the old cobblestone section of the city. Stroll; no cars allowed in there. Drop by Chavit Singson’s Baluarte manor, where a mini-zoo is open to the public. Who knows, you might see the former governor there playing mahjong. Pick up life-shortening bagnet (boiled, sun-dried pork slabs) and longanisa at the market. Have them chopped at Ernesto Co’s Diay Plaza restaurant – by the plaza, of course, where you can order veggie side dishes like pakbet, bulanglang, dinengdeng and bunga ng malunggay. Or snack on the famous Ilocos empanada (special with egg, P20) and Vigan bibingka (P75 per box). A good stop is the burnayan (pottery shop) of national folk artist Fidel Antiporda Go. He’ll gladly demonstrate how he makes huge jars on his trusty pottter’s wheel.

More days to spare? Go farther north to Laoag, Ilocos Norte’s capital. Pass through Paoay and see the old church, a Unesco world heritage site. Take a four-hour leisurely tour of five towns north of Laoag: Bacarra for its bell tower and ruins; Pasuquin for salt-making (salt makers have a fight with local health officers who sell the required iodine at too expensive rates); Burgos for the Spanish 17th-century Cape Bojeador lighthouse; Bangui for the zigzag road and valley; and glorious Pagudpud,the Boracay of the North, for its clear seawaters and white sand beaches.

No littering here; Pagudpud’s young mayor is a cleanliness and sanitation freak, thank heavens.

Book your hotel accommodations at any travel agency affiliated with the tourism office’s Wow Philippines program. Travel, Mark Twain said, broadens one’s horizons, lengthens the conversation, and flattens the wallet. But you’ll be surprised at how low the room rates are.

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Catch Sapol ni Jarius Bondoc, Saturdays at 8 a.m. on DWIZ (882-AM).

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