Drug tests for priests favored

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Priests should also be subjected to selective drug tests, Bayom-bong Bishop Ramon Villena said yesterday.

While Church workers are "less vulnerable" to drug use, Villena said it is likely that the Church will favor his proposal to also conduct drug tests on priests "but only on a case-to-case basis."

"If a priest is a suspected drug user, then by all means he will be subjected to (a) drug test," said Villena, ethics committee chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

He added that should the Church initiate a drug-testing program for priests, "this should not be mandatory. Only those (priests) suspected of using illegal drugs are the ones subjected to drug tests."– Charlie Lagasca