MANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada confirmed Monday that several barangay chairmen in the city have tested positive for illegal drug use after undergoing mandatory tests last November.
“Apparently, there were some. I don’t know the exact number yet,” Estrada said on receiving the initial results of the tests.
The Manila Health Department is not yet done with testing the village chiefs. Those who tested positive, Estrada said, will be required to take confirmatory tests.
MHD chief Dr. Benjamin Yson said the barangay chairmen concerned have been sent to the East Avenue Medical Center for confirmatory tests.
“They can’t say no,” Yson responded when asked if the chairmen who tested positive could refuse the confirmatory drug test.
Only 60 percent of the 896 barangay chairmen have so far been subjected to the mandatory drug test, the MHD chief clarified. Barangay councilmen or “kagawad” will follow, he said.
Manila Barangay Bureau chief Arsenic Lacson said the Department of Health, upon their request, provided 8,000 drug test kits, enough to cover the 7,168 elected barangay officials in the city.
Estrada reiterated his warning that he will go hard on those proven to use drugs.
“They should prepare for the consequences. They know I’m not bluffing. Drug addicts simply have no place in the government,” he said.
Those eventually found positive after the confirmatory tests will be slapped “with the most severe punishments” in accordance with the regulations set by the Civil Service Commission, Executive Order 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987, and the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Estrada said.
Based on the Administrative Code of 1987, government employees and officials who test positive for use of dangerous drugs face disciplinary and administrative proceedings with a penalty of dismissal at first offense.
Those that test positive will also be charged with appropriate criminal and administrative charges.
Estrada ordered the mandatory drug testing of 7,168 elected barangay officials in the city’s 896 barangays as part of his campaign to eliminate drugs in the capital city.
The drug tests started on November 7, 2016 and will go on until all 7,168 barangay officials, from chairmen to kagawad (councilors), have been tested.
“The process is still ongoing and we will finish this. But I cannot give specific date when since this is what the Mayor wants, that all Barangay Chairmen, at least the chairmen, should be drug-free,” Yson pointed out.
Estrada and the 36-member city council, including Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, also had themselves tested at City Hall on Aug. 18. None tested positive.
It was the first time in recent years that a city mayor voluntarily submitted himself to a drug test, which was also the first ever to be conducted at Manila City Hall.