PB wants drug test for poll bets in 2019

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial Board has passed a resolution urging the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Department of Interior and Local Government to require all the candidates in the upcoming May 2019 elections to undergo drug test.

The resolution authored by PB Member Sun Shimura also suggests to drug tests: one prior to the filing of Certificate of Candidacy and one before a winner assumes office.

“Requiring those who are running for the 2019 midterm elections may find no direct support or legal basis under our existing and relevant laws, however, for public interests, the said matter may be given special consideration in order to fully ensure that nobody shall be allowed to hold public office who are directly engaged in the use of illegal drugs,” the resolution reads.

Shimura said that if other civil servants like public teachers and government employees may be subjected to a mandatory drug tests, it would also be possible to include those who are holding public offices and those aspiring to be part in it through the midterm polls.

“If public office is a public trust then it would just be proper and fitting that only those persons who can be trusted without any taint of irregularity or under suspicion of any link to illegal activities may be given the privilege to hold public office,” Shimura’s resolution added.

The filing of COC for those seeking electing post next year is set on October this year.

In an earlier interview, Cebu Provincial Election Officer Atty. Ferdinand Gujilde explained that the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides the qualifications for electoral positions from the national to the local level. This means that the Constitution itself has to be amended if legislators wish to include a negative drug test result as a qualification.

In the case of the barangay level electoral positions, the Congress is given the power to expand the qualifications for the inclusion of drug testing but not for local and national positions. The Supreme Court earlier ruled that the imposition of mandatory drug testing is beyond the powers of the COMELEC.

Meanwhile, the coverage of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 only authorizes the conduct of drug tests on incumbent public officers, not electoral post aspirants. (FREEMAN)