Apologize or face raps: bry. capt. to Cosap chief
AFTER he tested negative for illegal drug use during the confirmatory test, Busay Barangay Captain the Amilo Lopez wants the chief of Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) to issue a public apology to him.
The information that he tested positive for the use of the illegal substance was leaked during the first surprise drug test administered to him and other barangay captains last October.
If she fails to do so by Monday, Lopez said he will be forced to file charges against her and he will ask the court to revoke her license as a doctor.
By profession, Dr. Alice Utlang is a veterinary doctor who also heads the City’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries aside from her designation as executive director of Cosap.
Not the source
The barangay captain and Barangay Councilor Eliodoro Sanchez held a press conference yesterday at the office of City Councilor Joel Garganera.
Utlang, for her part, insisted that she did not leak any information on the matter.
“It’s hard to trace who leaked the information because during the time when the screening was done at the venue, there were others who were also present who saw that he tested positive,” she said.
Lopez accused Utlang of releasing the information because as soon as he was informed that he tested positive, a reporter called him to comment.
“I can’t explain how badly I felt. How it humiliated my family and the whole barangay. That was why I don’t understand why the information was released when there was no confirmatory test yet,” he said in Cebuano.
Osmeña’s plan
Asked on Lopez’s plan to have her doctor’s license revoked, Utlang said it’s his right to so, but she’s confident that she didn’t do anything wrong.
Lopez also questioned why Utlang did not release the result of the confirmatory test immediately, con- sidering it was completed last Nov. 2 yet.
Cosap did not give his office a copy until last Thursday, he said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will push through with his plan to let barangay officials undertake a drug test, including himself and former mayor Michael Rama, using hair samples.
Osmeña said he might do this before the barangay elections.