Drug, health, DNA tests as issues in the ongoing poll campaign

ON top of the battle of platforms in the ongoing election campaign, a battle of tests – drug, health, and DNA – appears to be shaping up among the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Sen. Grace Poe was speaking in Pangasinan last week when she issued a challenge to her rivals to take drug tests. This would be one proof that they are not involved in illegal drugs, she said. Her suggestion was immediately shot down by Senate President Franklin Drilon, vice chairman of the Liberal Party. “I would like to think that having presented yourself as a candidate for the highest office in the land, you are not indulging in this vice. So I don’t see a need for a drug test,” he said.

Drilon, however, was all for revealing of candidates’ medical records. The LP’s presidential candidate Mar Roxas also took this stand after his favorite critic, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, was reported looking ill – which his camp, however, explained as just a migraine headache. Much earlier, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago declined a call for her to disclose the records of her treatment for cancer, saying it would be a violation of human rights to compel her to release her medical records.

The matter of a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) test is at the heart of efforts to prove without any doubt that Senator Poe was born of Filipino parents, therefore natural-born. The issue of her qualification on this key issue is now before the Supreme Court, with one justice saying a DNA test would prove without doubt that she is indeed a natural-born citizen qualified to run for president of the country.

The fifth candidate for president, Vice President Jejomar Binay, has not been involved in any of these disputes over drug or DNA, or even health tests, although he is the oldest of them all at 73. But he said he was all for transparency.

In the ongoing election campaign, the people will be watching the candidates as they move around the country, hear them speak of their plans should they win election, and feel the response of their fellow citizens not only to their ideas but also to their very presence. As of now, the clashing calls for tests of all kinds are just minor side issues, but they may yet emerge as critical concerns that could affect the outcome of the election.