THE Davao City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) said only 20 out of the 10,000 service-oriented companies are undergoing training to comply with the executive order mandating firms to craft drug-free workplace program.

Concepcion Domag of Cadac is urging business establishments in the city to undergo trainings for drug-free workplaces.

As of March, only a total of 20 business establishments or 40 representatives have enrolled themselves for training on how to conduct random drug testing among their employees and formulate a three-year drug-free workplace treatment and prevention program as part of the requirement before acquiring or renewing their business permit.

“It would address the prevention program and rehabilitation in case that their employees will turn out positive,” she said during Friday's (April 26) Kapehan sa PIA held at NCCC Buhangin.

Domag said there are 40,000 establishments all in all that are present in Davao City, but they divided them into three categories to facilitate the smooth implementation of the ordinance. The first group is the service-oriented business establishments and they are mandated to comply with the ordinance in 2020.

As of the moment, only service-oriented businesses are being urged to comply with the EO as Cadac-accredited service providers can only cater to limited number of businesses for trainings.

Cadac is encouraging the remaining service-oriented businesses to have their training in advance before their business renewal in 2020 as it might cause inconvenience on their part.

City Ordinance 0506-13 is a local ordinance requiring all companies employing more than 10 persons to have an anti-drug abuse program or a drug-free workplace policy. They must have a program to educate their employees, their families, and the communities on the ill-effects of illegal drugs, how to treat drugs and how to recover or manage it.

She added that the existing drug tests these companies have been conducting do not comply with the requirement as drug tests must be coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to qualify the business establishment.

In Davao City, Domag said with so many businesses to cater to, they accredited private service providers to provide the training services.

Some of the accredited service providers offering trainings include Ateneo de Davao University, Holy Cross of Davao College, University of Mindanao, and the University of Immaculate Conception.

“We are encouraging the business establishments to start the compliance process now because there will be problems in the renewal of business permit in 2020 should they fail to comply with the requirements,” Domag said.”