BACOLOD City – Employees of the local government unit (LGU) of San Carlos City in Negros Occidental were subjected to random drug tests on Monday, July 17.
Forty employees of the city engineering department were tested under the supervision of the San Carlos City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (SCCADAC).
SCCADAC secretary Ana Liza Macaraya said the random drug test was in accordance with the mandate of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that all government offices and its employees must be drug-free.
Mayor Renato Gustilo said employees will receive their test results through letters.
If found positive for illegal drugs, the employee will be placed under Drug Dependency Examination (DDE) and will undergo a six-month counseling program or confinement to a drug rehabilitation center.
Disciplinary action would also be imposed depending on the result of the DDE and based on CSC regulations.
Job order employees who test positive, meanwhile, will immediately be fired from their posts, although they will be given a chance to undergo a community-based drug rehabilitation as long as they voluntarily confess they are using illegal drugs.
Gustilo said those who will opt to undergo drug rehabilitation will be given a chance to work with the city government again after completing their rehabilitation.
In the first quarter of this year, the city government also conducted a random drug test. Three individuals tested positive – two opted for rehabilitation while the other one resigned. (Watchmen Daily Journal)
