PNP defers to Comelec on drug testing for candidates
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police said it would take the cue from the Commission on Elections on procedural guidelines on the possibility of mandatory drug testing for national candidates after President Rodrigo Duterte's allegation that an unnamed presidential aspirant uses cocaine renewed talk of drug tests for candidates.
Comelec said the Supreme Court has long ruled that a proposal to make drug tests mandatory is unconstitutional.
"The most that we can do is to support the suggestion for political aspirants to submit themselves to a voluntary drug test to prove to their followers and supporters that they are clean," Police Gen. Dionardo Carlos, the chief of the PNP, told reporters in a press briefing Monday morning.
"We will be ready to facilitate, and we can use our PNP Forensic Group, but let us cross the bridge when we get there," he said, pointing out that there are no orders for that at the moment.
"Once the result is out, the PNP will immediately submit it to the requesting body. An investigation will follow if someone will test positive for drug use," he said of potential drug tests.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III — candidates for president and vice president — have undergone voluntary drug tests.
Most candidates have indicated they are willing to take drug tests.
No timeline for 'fact-finding' review so far
Carlos earlier said that Duterte's public accusations prompted "fact-finding" by the PNP's anti-drug unit, though he was quick to clarify that no formal investigation had actually been launched yet.
The chief executive made the allegation in a speech last week, a move reminiscent of the campaign period of the 2019 mid-term elections. Duterte, whose administration's flagship "drug war" has killed thousands according to police data, did not name the candidate nor provide evidence to support his allegation.
Speaking in an interview aired over CNN Philippines' "The Source" on Monday morning, Carlos also said that the possible probe is purely an initiative of the PNP and is not a result of a direct order from the president.
He could not directly answer whether or not the PNP investigators would have to consult the president in order to investigate the claim, or whether the information would have to come from the commander-in-chief.
"That can be undertaken [but] that's presidential information. We'll take action; if the president will give us the name, then we will work on it," he said.
"We're going back to the lists and data...I can't say who it is specifically, but at the end of the day, we have an effort to identify the person."
Asked if the PNP has a timeline on its fact-finding on the president's allegation, Carlos said: "Well, why put a timeline? It's a daily thing that we do to accomplish the task. They are professional enough to work on it. I don't think I have to tell them to finish it in a week. We will work on it."
— Franco Luna
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