BACOLOD City – Who’s afraid of a drug test? Not Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran.
That was what Familiaran claimed as he expressed supposed to the idea of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to subject 2019 midterm election candidates to drug testing.
“Wala gid problema kag waay man ko mahadlok sang drug testing,” said Familiaran, who was seeking re-election.
PDEA director general Aaron Aquino wanted a surprise drug test for 2019 election candidates but did not say what it would be for.
“Wala naman plano. Bigla lang pumasok sa utak ko (There is no definite plan. It just occurred to me),” a report on the state-run Philippine News Agency quoted Aquino as telling a radio interview.
The drug test “should be surprise. Otherwise, we are not doing [it] properly. It doesn’t serve the purpose,” Aquino said in the report, adding: “Mas maganda (It’s better to have a) surprise drug test sa lahat ng kandidato (for all candidates).”
Drug testing must be made a requirement in the filing of the certificate of candidacy, Familiaran said.
And the drug test among election candidates should be made mandatory and not random, he added.
In 2008 the Supreme Court has ruled against mandatory drug testing among election candidates.
A provision of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 – Section 36 (g) – provides that “All candidates for public office whether appointed or elected both in the national or local government shall undergo a mandatory drug test.”
But the high court ruled this part of the law as unconstitutional, granting a petition filed by then senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who sought re-election in the 2004 elections.
On the other hand, the Commission on Elections has repeatedly said there is no law that requires election candidates to take mandatory drug tests.
Comelec cannot add eligibility requirements on its own and any resolution it will issue pertaining to a mandatory drug test will still be considered unconstitutional, the commission’s spokesman James Jimenez has said./PN
