Mayor Vi mulls mandatory drug tests

LIPA CITY — Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto is mulling mandatory drug tests for City Hall employees after a sanitation inspector was arrested in a buy-bust last July 21.

The plan was also triggered by police intelligence reports that a number of other City Hall employees might be using illegal drugs.

City administrator Jun Dijan himself admitted getting information that some employees are hooked on drugs, particularly in at least two departments which he refused to reveal pending investigation.

"If the police find out, through their intelligence reports, that an employee is involved (in illegal drugs), then I advise them to arrest (the concerned employee) and file (charges)," Dijan told The STAR.

Chief Inspector Dante Novicio, chief of the city’s anti-illegal drug task force, said they are indeed monitoring some employees who might be involved in illegal drugs.

Last July 21, Novicio’s group arrested Felix Mistas, a sanitation inspector II, in a buy-bust in Villa De Lipa Subdivision in Barangay Maraouy.

Mistas was collared after selling a gram of shabu to a police poseur-buyer. The P500 marked money used in the buy-bust was recovered from him.

Investigation showed that Mistas was charged with drug possession in 2002 but he was acquitted on a technicality.

"Diyan galit na galit si Mayor Vi at hindi niya tino-tolerate ang mga maling gawain na yan (Mayor Vi is mad about these things, and she won’t tolerate such wrongdoings)," Dijan said.

Dijan said the mayor is planning to conduct mandatory drug tests for City Hall employees.

"We have to weed out those people who are destroying the integrity of this institution," he said.