Four City Hall Employees Found Positive for Illegal Drug Use

Four employees of the Cebu City government had been found positive of illegal drugs when they were subjected to random drug testing last week.

Dr. Alice Utlang, executive director of the Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap), said she is now preparing her report to Mayor Michael Rama recommending the termination of casual employees while the regular worker will be investigated.

Utlang refused to identify the employees tested positive of illegal drugs, but said they are assigned with different City Hall departments.

She explained by saying “Duna man go’y department nga usa o duha ra ka kawani ang gi-subject og random drugtest. Kun atong ibutyag ang department mahibaw-an dayon kadto’ng napositibo.”

The mayor earlier said that he is not comfortable to work together with drug users in the Cebu City government.

The records show that over 20 City Hall employees had been found positive of illegal drugs during surprise drug tests last year, most of them were terminated from their jobs, while a few others undergo voluntary rehabilitation.

Aside from the City Hall employees, over 100 barangay workers mostly tanods and garbage personnel, also failed to pass the drugtests but many of them were not terminated by their barangay captains because they are political supporters.

“Kadto’ng mga City Hall departments nga nahimoan na nato og surprise drug test sa miagi’ng tuig ato na lang i-random drug test pero kadto’ng wala pa g’yud mahimoi og surprise drug testing, pakalitan nato sila og drugtest karong tuiga,” Utlang said.