CLOSE to 3,000 employees of the Cebu City Government and three city barangays have been tested for illegal drug use since last January.
The surprise drug tests are part of the efforts of the City to make City Hall and the barangays a drug-free workplace.
Records from the Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse and Prevention (Cosap) showed that a total of 2,719 workers from the City and three barangays submitted themselves to the drug tests.
Of the number, 56 barangay and city workers tested positive for illegal drug use.
Cosap chief Garry Lao said that of the 56 workers, 33 are city employees and 23 are barangay employees.
For City Hall, Cosap conducted surprise drug tests for workers of 19 offices.
City employees who are casuals and who tested positive for illegal drug use will be terminated.
Yesterday, Cosap administered separate surprise drug tests in Barangays Day-as and Tejero in Cebu City.
Seventy-two workers in Day-as and 69 in Tejero submitted themselves to the tests. A total of 996 barangay workers had been tested; 802 of them are tanods.
Lao said it is important to conduct surprise drug tests since they need to clean City Hall and the barangays of illegal drugs before they take the campaign to the community.
“Drug testing is not done for disciplinary reasons or meant to punish, but to prevent government employees and workers in the barangays from using drugs in the first place,” Lao said. (RVC)