Eleazar orders stricter random drug test for Metro Manila cops

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar has ordered an intensified random drug testing to rank and file personnel after a rookie policeman was arrested for drugs inside a club in Taguig City.

Eleazar said Metro Manila police district directors must fortify their random drug test program as the arrest of PO1 Redentor Bautista should serve as “wake up call” for the police force.

Eleazar also directed the regional police’s Drug Enforcement Units and Counter Intelligence Units to strengthen their initiatives to uncover more drug users and even pushers in the NCRPO.

Bautista, a policeman detailed at the Manila Police District (MPD), was allegedly caught red-handed using cocaine inside the comfort room of Island Palace Club at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on Wednesday. The police officer, who has since been relieved from the MPD Station 1, was in the club to allegedly attend a Halloween party with his niece.

READ: Halloween partying Manila cop nabbed over drugs inside BGC club

“The discovery of this addict policeman is a timely wake up call. We should not take anything for granted as [there are] possible police officers and pushers,” Eleazar said.

Eleazar finds it “ironic” that there’s still a policeman arrested for illegal drugs despite the “successful and continuing war against illegal drugs” in the last two-and-a-half years.

“We will not relax our guard. We must continue and sustain our vigilance in this war against illegal drugs, even within our ranks,” he said.  /kga