• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Some 3,000 employees and elected officials of the Negros Occidental provincial government are undergoing mandatory drug testing in compliance with the memorandum-circular issued by the Civil Service Commission.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson was among those who underwent drug testing at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City on Monday.
The mandatory drug testing, which started yesterday, will continue until today.
Those assigned in the provincial government-managed hospitals are scheduled on Dec. 15.
“All will be subjected to drug testing. Nobody is exempted from it,” Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said.
Those who may try to evade will be imposed sanctions, he added.
Diaz said that as government employees, they knew that it is bound to happen, and they have to accept it as a condition for their renewed employment.
“As a matter of procedure that is accepted in all local government units, the provincial government is doing its share to ensure a drug-free workplace,” he added.
Diaz said that they have not received information that there are Capitol employees who may have been using illegal drugs.
He said though that there is “intelligence information” that some personnel assigned in other establishments and institutions surrounding the Capitol are allegedly using illegal drugs. | GB
