MANILA, Philippines—Members of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine National Police headquarters got a surprise from their new commander on Wednesday—a drug test.
Seeking to weed out drug abusers from task force personnel, PNP Deputy Director General Raul Castañeda, who assumed command of task force as the PNP’s new No. 3 man, ordered a drug test administered on 120 members of the special narcotics unit.
“I believe as a narcotics officer, before you implement our drug laws, you should have the moral ascendancy to do so. The best way to do it is a drug test, to make sure all our personnel are drug free,” he told reporters at Camp Crame.
He said he wanted to take the task force personnel by surprise. “Before I met them as the new commander, I already had this idea, so I coordinated with the crime lab to surprise them all.”
Under the law, those who test positive may voluntarily submit themselves to a rehabilitation facility, but will face administrative sanctions upon their discharge, Castañeda said.
“There is a case and due process but this will [serve as] very strong evidence. On my part, I will eradicate that from AIDSOTF,” he said.
Castañeda said he did not believe narcotics police, including undercover agents, needed to take drugs to penetrate drug syndicates.
“I was at Narcom (Narcotics Command) for three years. We penetrated many syndicates without having to take drugs,” he said.
To serve as the example, Castañeda said he was the first to take the test.
The task force personnel were required to submit urine samples, and the crime laboratory was to process the results. Castañeda said a budget of about P50 had been set per policeman.
A more accurate drug test using hair samples is not yet in the works, he said, adding in jest: “How can that be? I have so few hair strands left, and yet you want to take them away.”