BACOLOD EMPLOYEES LINKED TO DRUG USE TOLD TO UNDERGO POLICE PROBE

CITY—“Voluntarily surrender now or face investigation and arrest.”

This was the warning of Police Col. Noel Aliño, director of the Bacolod City police, on Friday to the 49 job order (JO) workers and four regular employees of the Bacolod City government who tested positive for use of illegal drugs.

“They should voluntarily surrender to me so they can undergo rehabilitation. They should also disclose where they got their supply of their illegal drugs,” he said.

“We will not force them to surrender but we will conduct police operations against them,” he said.

The 53 employees were being closely watched, adding if the police would get “enough evidence against them, I will arrest all of them,” Aliño said.

The 49 JO personnel were removed from their respective posts while the four regular employees were suspended.

Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez sanctioned these workers after they failed in a surprise random drug test conducted among city employees on Aug. 1.

Traffic enforcement workers

Most of those who tested positive for illegal drugs were from the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office and the Public Order and Safety Office.

All personnel who tested positive for illegal drugs would be subjected to rehabilitation but would still have to undergo further investigation by the police led by Aliño, the mayor said.

“I think this is proper so the public will be confident that their public servants are not involved in the [use of ] illegal substance,” Benitez said.

Benitez said the random drug tests would continue to include all other departments of the city government.

“Ideally everybody should undergo the tests. Maybe it will be a call for all public officials, including those elected into office, to do the same to make it fair to all,” said the mayor, who also underwent a drug test last Tuesday and was cleared of illegal substance use.

City Administrator Pacifico Maghari III said the Bacolod City government planned to make mandatory drug testing a requirement for the hiring of JO workers.

He said all city employees were strongly encouraged to undergo drug tests until a pending ordinance making it mandatory is approved by the city council.

“If you have nothing to hide, you would submit yourself to a drug test. Mandatory drug testing prior to hiring could be made part of the system,” Maghari said.