BY GLENDA TAYONA
ILOILO City – The city government will require all job hire and contractual employees to submit to quarterly drug tests.
According to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, City Administrator Melchor Tan issued a memorandum order regarding this initiative.
“(This is) to ensure that there are no drug users in the employ of the city government,” said Treñas.
Aside from job hire and casual employees, Treñas said “surprise” drug test will also be made in the city hall for regular employees at any time.
The drug test requirement was ordered following the arrest of a former job hire in a buy-bust operation on Aug. 24.
The job contract of the suspect identified as Jerome Dequiña of Barangay Buntatala, Jaro was terminated in July for failing to pass the drug test which is a requirement for renewal, Treñas earlier clarified after some reports still tagged the suspect as a city hall job hire.
“We do not tolerate substance abuse and selling of illegal drugs in city hall and the whole city in general,” the city mayor stressed.
Dequiña was one of the two high-value individuals arrested by drug enforcement units in an operation in Pavia, Iloilo on Aug. 24.
Iloilo City now has 93 out of 180 barangays declared drug-cleared and steadfast in ensuring and maintaining its status.
The Iloilo City Peace and Order Council (CPOC), meanwhile, got a perfect score in the 2021 POC Performance Audit of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Regional Office 6.
The CPOC garnered 100% in 2021 and 87.50% in 2019, above the national average of 73% and 75.52% for 2019 and 2021, respectively.
The Iloilo City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ICADAC) also got a high functional rating of 90% in 2021./PN
