ESTRADA
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada revealed on Monday that several of the city’s barangay chairs had been found positive for drug use after undergoing mandatory testing.
In a statement, Estrada said that he did not have the exact figures yet, adding that they would release the information once the Manila Health Department has completed its confirmatory tests.
In November, he ordered the conduct of mandatory drug testing for 7,168 barangay officials as part of the city’s intensive war on drugs. At press time, around 60 percent of all 896 barangay leaders had been tested. Barangay councilors are expected to follow suit soon.
The move was prompted by an antidrug operation at the Islamic Center in Quiapo last October in which the chair of Barangay 648, Faiz Macabato, was killed in an alleged shootout with the police.
Six others also died in that operation, among them a former barangay councilor, while over 200 people were rounded up.
Estrada said that elected officials confirmed to be drug users would be punished in accordance with the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Administrative Code of 1987 and the Civil Service Commission. Aside from dismissal from the service, they also face criminal and administrative charges, he warned.