A POLICE officer assigned at the Sawang Calero Police Station of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) was found positive of illegal drugs during a surprise drug test on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020.

A confirmatory test will be conducted at Camp Crame. If the result is still positive, the police officer will be dismissed from service.

Newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas has ordered regional offices across the country to test all their personnel for illegal drugs as part of his campaign to eradicate illegal drug use among men and women in uniform.

Sinas was director of the Police Regional Office 7, which is based in Cebu City, from July 2018 to October 2019.

Col. Josefino Ligan, CCPO director, told reporters he was glad that only one of the 570 police officers who were tested came out positive.

He said the police officer has been relieved of his duties while he will be investigated to determine if he is a drug user.

Ligan said they will conduct more random drug tests before the end of the year.

The CCPO director urged his personnel to avoid getting involved in illegal activities, especially with Sinas as PNP chief.

Aside from waging a war against illegal drugs, Sinas also vowed to cleanse the ranks of police officers involved in illegal activities.

“To our personnel, they know that our new PNP chief, since his time here as PRO 7 chief, has been serious in his campaign against illegal drugs. They should be reminded that involving themselves in illegal drugs, whether as sellers or users, is not tolerated,” Ligan added.

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, a regular employee was one of seven employees under the Cebu City Market Operations Division who tested positive during a surprise drug test conducted by the City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap).

The six others are job order (JO) workers, said Cosap head Jonah John Rodriguez.

As of Thursday, 15 City Hall employees have failed the drug test.

The test results are still subject to confirmatory tests in a Manila laboratory. However, the JO workers will be dismissed immediately, based on Mayor Edgardo Labella’s orders.

The City Legal Office will investigate the regular employee once the latter’s confirmatory result will come out. In the meantime, the regular employee has been asked to file an

explanation as part of the due process.

A total of 77 City Hall employees tested positive for drug use during the Cosap’s first round of drug testing before the coronavirus pandemic struck in March. Five of them were regular employees.

Those who failed went through a rehabilitation program so they would be cleared.

The Cosap has so far conducted random drug tests in 18 City Hall offices and 10 barangays.

The activity is pursuant to City Ordinance 1829, which requires all City Hall employees to undergo a drug screening. The ordinance was authored by Labella when he was still a city councilor. / AYB / JKV, JJL