10 canyon guides found ‘using drugs’

CEBU, Philippines - Ten canyoneering tour guides in Alegria town tested positive of using illegal drugs after the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office conducted a surprise drug test during a meeting with tour guides last Thursday.

Board member Carmen Durano-Meca, incoming head of CPADAO said, the drug test was requested by the local government unit of Alegria. She said out of 100 tour guides tested, nine were positive for shabu while one was positive for marijuana.

The positive results are still subject to confirmatory testing.

With the effort to review the polices on canyoneering and other extreme activities in the Kanlaob River in the towns of Alegria and Badian before the re-opening of the said activity, the provincial government, through the Provincial Eco-Adventure Management Council, decided to conduct trainings for tour guides who want to be accredited.

Dennis Cortes, the senior emergency respondent, said tour guides should be physically fit, and this includes being drug-free.

"We have to professionalize our tourism, and second, if positive sila og drugs, dili sad maayo nga mo-continue sila as tour guides kay they will pose dangers not only to themselves but also to their guests. So maayo ni siya nga na-detect early so that we would know kun kinsa ang eligible ug kun kinsa ang dili," said Dennis Chong, operations head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

Chong said based on their initial agreement with the council, those who will be found positive of using illegal drugs will no longer qualify as tour guides, but he said that they still have to talk with the technical working group and the Alegria local government if those who tested positive will be blacklisted or made to undergo an intervention program.

The PDRRMO is planning to conduct 14 days of training to all the tour guides in Badian and Alegria.

Five days of the training will focus on tour guiding and will be handled by the Department of Tourism, while the other nine days will focus on emergency response and will be conducted by the PDRRMO.  (FREEMAN)