17 DPWH men positive of drug use; contracts not renewed

MAASIN CITY, Philippines – The employment contract of 17 job order employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Southern Leyte, who were earlier found positive for substance abuse, were not renewed starting September 1.

District Engineer Maria Margarita Junia, who announced this development, said her office was still waiting for the decision of DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson on what to do with the six employees who, under the Civil Service Commission rules, may be subject to disciplinary sanction with a penalty of dismissal from service.

Of the 17 workers, seven were field men, three were project inspectors, two were guards, two were drivers, one was an engineer, and another a utility worker.

In the meantime, Junia referred the six regular employees to the Saving Lives at a Common Ground (SALAG) Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Dulag, Leyte, which will determine who among them needs confinement, and those who can be considered as outpatient.

Junia said she reached this decision after the regular employees, after a one-day recollection activity held at the district office, had expressed remorse with their desire to reform their ways.

“We initiated the recollection to raise awareness that a drug user will never have a good life. We also want to help drug users to overcome the bad habit and turn back to God for help,” Junia said.

“A drug user even thanked me for initiating the drug test because that’s the turning point of his life,” she recalled. “I saw the need to help them because their addiction caused them financial distress.”

Junia, with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation, conducted a surprise drug testing on all of the  more than 200 DPWH-Southern Leyte’s employees after one was arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for trying to sneak into the DPWH office some illegal drugs.

“I am happy with the outcome of the drug test because it is now clear to us who the real drug users are,” Junia said.

During interrogation, the arrested worker said the drug was for some employees and engineers of the DPWH, however, he was already released after six months in detention.

City Prosecutor Elpedio Quejada dismissed the PDEA complaint against Osman Cadano Gamohay, 32, after the agency did not submit a counter-affidavit to Gamohay’s reply-affidavit.