FILE PHOTO: Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte files a bill that seeks to require drug tests for all government officials – whether elected or appointed – every six months. PHOTO BY CITY INFORMATION OFFICE
MANILA, Philippines — Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte filed a bill that seeks to require drug tests for all government officials every six months.
In a statement early Tuesday morning, Duterte said he filed House Bill (HB) No. 10744 on August 12 to amend provisions of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Specifically, Duterte’s bill intends to modify Section 36 of R.A. No. 9165 by requiring a hair follicle drug test as an initial test and then a urine drug test as a confirmatory test for driver’s license applicants and government officials – whether elected or appointed.
“Considering the initiatives towards the deterrence of drug use and abuse, exemptions or favors in the mandatory nature of random drug testing shall not extend to certain class privilege such as the elected and appointed officials, since it becomes imperative upon their own mandate that they shall lead the life of modesty and integrity,” states the exploratory note of Duterte’s bill.
Also, HB 10744 encourages candidates for an election to undergo drug tests 90 days before Election Day.
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According to Duterte, the hair follicle test was picked as a mode of drug testing because it is believed to be a more accurate method of detecting drug and substance abuse.
“DuPont & Baumgartner in ‘Drug testing by urine and hair analysis: complementary features and scientific issues’ in 1995 upholds that the Hair Follicle Test can detect the intensity or the quantitative result of usage of the person being tested within the ninety (90) days, in contrast with the Urine Drug Test which is needed to be conducted frequently, (at least once a week or more),” HB 10744 explains.
“Granted such wide time frame of detection or what is termed as ‘surveillance window’, occasional drug testing, that this Bill also proposes, will eventually become the norm, not only to government employees but also to elected and appointed officials, as well as candidates for electoral posts, however, on their own accord,” it adds.
The hair follicle drug test is the same method that critics of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have been asking him to undergo to disprove allegations that he is using illegal drugs.
Some personalities, including Rep. Paolo Duterte’s father – former President Rodrigo Duterte – have been linking Marcos to illegal drug use.
READ: Bongbong Marcos tested ‘negative’ for cocaine in 2021 – drug analyst
In November 2021, even before the campaign season for the 2022 national elections, then-outgoing President Duterte claimed that one of the candidates for president uses cocaine – which many believed was Marcos.
Marcos, however, has denied this, submitting himself to a drug test days after the older Duterte’s assertion. Last January, the President also refused to give weight to the former president’s accusations, noting that it might be the fentanyl acting up.
Duterte previously admitted to using fentanyl, a strong painkiller that is said to be more potent than morphine and heroin.
Marcos again found himself linked to illegal drugs after former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent Jonathan Morales came out with a document showing the names of the President and actress Maricel Soriano as subjects of a pre-antidrug operation report.
Morales claimed he prepared the report, but current PDEA officials questioned its authenticity.
In an ambush interview last May, Marcos said it is hard to give importance to Morales’ claims as he is like a “jukebox” or someone who would sing whatever song is directed if given money.