WHILE the Cebu City Council underwent drug testing yesterday, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama declined to do the same as he questioned the need to do so.
“I will be upset if we go through all the 5,000 employees in City Hall and discover only one or five are positive. It would mean we’re incompetent in surveillance. It is not strategic, it’s not intelligent,” Rama said in his regular press conference.
Rama said a better option would be a “selective rather than massive” drug test to be conducted on those suspected of taking drugs.
The mayor suggested that drug tests be taken by those working at traffic, the slaughterhouse, the veterinary and fisheries departments. Rama cited those working on graveyard shifts, who may take drugs to stay awake.
Rama initially said he would take the drug test right away. But when he saw Alice Utlang, who heads the City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap), he said he wants to see the results first. “Let me see the results first. If it doesn’t make any sense, then stop,” he told Utlang.
Utlang said they’ll continue with the rest of the City Hall employees after the elected officials are finished with the tests.
She said those who tested positive will undergo due process, counseling and monitoring.
“Our purpose is not to condemn them but to help them,” she said.
But Rama said casual employees may be fired. Results for the drug test among the councilors yesterday is confidential, Utlang said.
The council passed last week a resolution by Councilor Richard Osmeña mandating all City Hall employees to undergo a drug test.
Councilor Alvin Dizon said the city’s elected officials should also undergo the test to “set an example.” /Correspondent Jose Santino S. Bunachita
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Rama declines drug test | Cebu News, The Freeman Sections, The Freeman | philstar.com
Councilors undergo drug test Rama begs off
Originally Posted by zairon1988
hadlok masakpan nga positive c papi ?
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