Ex-Mandaluyong top cop fails confirmatory drug test

MANILA, Philippines — Former Mandaluyong police chief Col. Cesar Gerente and two other police officers were found positive for drug use anew based on the confirmatory tests on their urine specimens, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced yesterday.

“Yung confirmatory test was conducted last Aug. 26, which yielded a positive result,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said in a phone interview when asked for developments on Gerente’s case.

Fajardo said two other police non-commissioned officers assigned in Metro Manila who were earlier found to be drug users also tested positive in confirmatory drug examination on their urine samples.

Gerente and the two other policemen were among the more than 950 police officers who were subjected to random drug tests last month as part of the PNP’s internal cleansing drive to weed out scalawags in its ranks.

Fajardo said the police officers who tested positive have 15 days upon receipt of the results of their confirmatory tests to challenge the findings.

They can have the same urine samples they earlier submitted examined by a laboratory that is accredited by the Department of Health.

To ensure there will be no switching, Fajardo said only the forensic chemists who examined the urine specimens are the ones who will submit the samples to the laboratories chosen by the police officers.

Gerente and the other police officers are undergoing a pre-charge investigation.

They are facing administrative charges of conduct unbecoming of a police officer, which carry a penalty of dismissal from the police service.