MANILA – Malacañang does not support the idea of subjecting candidates in the 2019 midterm elections to mandatory drug testing.
Drug tests should be voluntary, according to Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo.
“Sa tingin ko, dapat voluntary. Kung ayaw [ng kandidato], hindi naman pu-puwedeng pupuwersahin mo,” said Panelo, the concurrent chief presidential legal counsel.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino earlier said he would want a surprise drug test on election candidates.
“Kung wala naman talagang itinatago, magbu-volunteer talaga iyan,” added Panelo.
President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly spoken against narco-politicians and even showed portions of a supposed “narco-list.”
The administration has an ongoing war on drugs that led to thousands of deaths and prompted a complaint before the International Criminal Court accusing Duterte of committing a crime against humanity.
Panelo assured the public that the President would not endorse candidates involved in the illegal drug trade. “Hindi papayag iyon,” he stressed.
This was not the first time that Malacañang disagreed with the PDEA’s position.
Aquino had repeatedly said that the two emptied magnetic cylinders found in a Cavite warehouse contained P6.8 billion of smuggled shabu.
The magnetic cylinders’ profile – including color, makeup, holes, and documentation papers – were identical to the shabu shipment intercepted at the Manila International Container Terminal, Aquino had said.
Furthermore, the agency’s K-9 units had indicated that the drug had been in the containers.
But Duterte had said the PDEA’s account of the incident was pure speculation. (GMA News)
