Drug tests for Cabinet pushed

You could say police officials want a thorough, top-to-bottom campaign against illegal drugs.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. urged Cabinet members yesterday to undergo drug testing to ensure that all government officials are drug-free.

"Even in the government, I suppose, we should start with all the Cabinet secretaries, including the PNP chief, chief of the Coast Guard and so on," Ebdane said.

Everybody, "even elected officials" should undergo drug tests, he said, "so that we can help address the (illegal) drugs problem."

The drug tests, he said, should weed out "whoever is (proven to be) a drug user" so that "the public will know who doesn’t deserve their vote."

At least 800 police officers underwent drug testing during spot checks conducted by the PNP. Some members of the PNP Press Corps also volunteered for drug testing.

Ebdane also welcomed the move of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) allowing the possibility of having some priests undergo random drug testing.

"Well, we have an ally in the CBCP, but there is a new group that doesn’t want to undergo (drug) testing," he said, referring to a group of teachers who protested outright against proposals that teachers should also be included in the random drug testing.

Ebdane is leaving the matter up to the school administrators to discuss further how drug testing can be conducted at all high schools and colleges nationwide.

"It is incumbent (upon the) school administrators to coordinate and, since it is embodied in the law, it should be adhered to. This is for their own good," he said.

Ebdane reprimanded Crime Laboratory head Chief Superintendent Restituto Mosqueda yesterday for releasing wrong information on the results of the drug testing of the players of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) recently.

Ebdane said he "castigated" Mosqueda "for touching that particular issue. It should have been the PBA which should have tackled that issue, not the PNP," he said.

He said the PNP Crime Laboratory should maintain its credibility, since it is tasked to examine and conduct the "confirmatory" testing on urine samples submitted to government agencies in compliance with the anti-illegal drugs campaign.