Vice President Sara Duterte | File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is willing to be the first to take a hair follicle drug test in response to some requests for such a procedure.
Duterte’s pronouncement stemmed from a challenge made by former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
Roque had urged the vice president and her brothers, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte, to “lead by example” in taking the drug test.
“Yes,” she said in a chance interview in Davao City on Thursday when asked if she would accept Roque’s dare.
However, Duterte stressed that a “third party” should be involved in the testing to ensure the results’ validity.
“I’ve been reading the appeal of the people. We’ll just finalize when it will be conducted because maybe there should be a third party involved in the testing, and it might not just be one laboratory so we can ensure that the result is validated,” Duterte said in Filipino.
“So that’s the detail I want to be ironed out by all those making the call. Let’s do the drug test,” she added.
In the same interview, Duterte also expressed support for a bill filed by Davao Rep. Duterte which seeks to require drug tests for all government officials every six months.
READ: Paolo Duterte wants periodic drug tests for all government officials
“Of course, first of all, we must ensure that our public officials are in the right mindset, myself included,” she said.
READ: Bongbong Marcos tested ‘negative’ for cocaine in 2021 – drug analyst
The hair follicle drug test is the same method critics, including Roque, have been urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to do amid several allegations that he uses illegal drugs.
But Marcos has repeatedly denied the accusations.