With 24 percent of all drivers in Quezon City already going through drug tests, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Monday vowed to help rid the city of the use of illegal drugs.
“We passed an ordinance mandating all tricycle and pedicab drivers and operators to undergo drug testing and, so far, since we just passed this in 2017, 23.54 percent have already undergone the mandatory testing,” she said.
Out of those tested, Belmonte said four percent had tested positive for drugs and were subject to driving prohibitions, franchise suspension, and rehabilitation and treatment.
“We’ve heard unjust hearsay before that majority of tricycle and pedicab drivers use illegal drugs, but with our present results, that is far from the truth,” she said.
Ordinance No. SP-2575 of 2017 or the “Drugged Driving Ordinance in Quezon City” mandates members of a tricycle operator driver association and pedicab operator driver association to undertake random drug test at the expense of the city government.
As chairperson of the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council, the vice mayor said the ordinance is “aligned with QCADAAC and the city’s integrated efforts to suppress drug addiction and drug pushing” to protect the welfare of residents in the city.
Meanwhile, Mayor Herbert Bautista recently spearheaded the Regional Peace and Order Council-National Capital Region’s two-day peace summit in Taguig City.
“Let this peace and order international summit help us be many steps ahead in wisdom, ability, and strategy of those who seek to destroy our common objective of promoting orderly peaceful communities,” Bautista told the participants.
They came from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Capital Region Police Office, and local chief executives representing 56 council members both the public and private sectors.
