INCOMING speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Monday said his leadership will prioritize the proposed mandatory drug testing of all members of the House of Representatives in keeping with the intensified anti-illegal drugs campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Alvarez said he supports the proposal of Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers to require all lawmakers and all their employees to undergo a drug test to ensure that the so-called “House of the People” will be a “drug-free” workplace.
“I fully support the drug test,” Alvarez said, stressing that he will consult with his colleagues as soon as he is elected speaker of the 17th Congress.
“After July 25, I have to get the consensus of the House members,” Alvarez, the representative of Davao del Norte, said.
Barbers stressed that drug test should be mandatory to show to the public that lawmakers have nothing to hide.
“The House of Representatives should underscore its commitment, support and participation to anti-drug policies, programs and projects by ensuring that its own workplace is a drug-free institution,” Barbers said.
“All members shall submit to the mandatory drug test before assumption to office and regularly every year thereafter,” Barbers said, stressing that the mandatory drug testing aims to support Duterte’s fight against drug-related crimes.
In pushing for a mandatory drug test in the Lower House, Barbers proposed that those who will be tested positive for illegal drug use will not get their monthly salaries and other benefits until proper action is taken on them.
Barbers also said that those who will refuse to subject themselves to a mandatory drug test “shall be a ground to withhold the release of salaries, wages, and benefits, in addition to whatever appropriate sanctions under existing civil service laws, rules and regulations.”
“The same rules apply to all legislative staff, consultants, officers and employees,” Barbers said.
In the past Congress, a periodic drug test for all lawmakers was proposed following the conviction in February 2011 of Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson for drug trafficking in Hong Kong.
Singson, who served 11 months of an 18-month sentence for drug trafficking, got a lighter sentence from Wanchai District Court Judge Joseph Yau after he pleaded guilty to the charge of drug trafficking while insisting that he did not intend to sell the drugs he brought with him to Hong Kong.
The sentence was broken down as one year and four months for 6.67 grams of cocaine and two months for the two tablets of diazepam, commonly known as Valium, that were seized from him in July 2010 when he entered Hong Kong.