DAVAO CITY—Three employees of the City Government have tested positive for illegal drugs following a mandatory random drug test last October.
Michael Denton Aportadera, City Anti-Drug Abuse Council Action Officer, said the three workers were among the 1,127 government employees who took the drug test. He did not name the employees.
“We did the confirmatory test to the three employees, and it turned out that they are really positive of illegal drugs,” he said.
Under the Civil Service law, anyone who tests positive for drugs will be terminated from government service.
Aportadera said it is important to ensure that all the city hall employees are clear from illegal drugs, since they are carrying the name of the city government whether they are a plantilla employee or a job-order worker.
“Mayor Sara [Duterte] is very much keen with a clean lifestyle, especially for the city hall employees, since we are the frontliners in serving the people, and as a government employee we should also follow the rules of law,” he said.
More employees will take the mandatory drug test to cover the 12,000 employees of the city government, Aportadera added.
Earlier, Mayor Duterte had warned those who would test positive for illegal drugs that they would be fired immediately.
However, Duterte said the city will consider the length of service of the employee concerned, and put him or her under the Community Based Rehabilitation Program of the city government to help them.
“If they will be found positive, we will look into their records, and maybe we can put them under the rehab program of the city government,” she said.
