15 Gov’t Employees Found Positive of Using Illegal Drugs
Fifteen employees from the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) were found positive of using drugs during the surprise drug test yesterday; 13 of whom uses shabu while two others uses shabu and marijuana.
Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) chief Garry Lao explained that there are 267 employees of DEPW including 106 casuals, 51 regular and 110 job orders.
Apparently, there were only 246 who undergone the test. The remaining 21 employees who were not present during the drug test, must undergo the test today, otherwise they will be terminated.
Initially, there were 495 employees who underwent drug test from the following departments of the Cebu City Government: Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse (COSAP), Human Resource Development Office (HRDO), City Budget Office, DEPW, City Accounting Office, City Planning and Development Office, Management Information and Computer Services (MICS), Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) , including newly hired employees.
The policy of the administration is to terminate casual or job order employees who will be found positive in using drugs, while regular employees will have to undergo the process of preliminary investigation through the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO).
“If they will be terminated; do not blame the city government, the mayor, department heads, and COSAP.” said Mr. Lao, when he was asked to give advice to those employees who will be found positive of using drugs. ( Cebu City Public Information Office/Jocelou Deborah A. Camantigue/CNU Communication Intern)
