PNP dares all 2022 poll bets to take drug test

PNP chief Police Gen. Dionardo Carlos —Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has encouraged all local and national candidates in next year’s elections to submit themselves to drug testing, despite it not being among the requirements for running.

“Although the PNP acknowledges that no law mandates the candidate to undergo a drug test, doing so will set an example to their fellow [compatriots] by proving that they aren’t users of illegal drugs,” PNP chief Police Gen. Dionardo Carlos said in a statement on Saturday.

Carlos’ statement came days after President Duterte, without naming names, claimed one of the presidential aspirants was a user of cocaine.

He said he already tasked the PNP’s Drug Enforcement Group to investigate the matter, noting that the President’s pronouncement “prompted an initial fact-finding.”

“Whenever there is relevant information that comes, we definitely conduct an investigation. As of this time, we are trying to get additional information on that matter,” Carlos said, stressing that their action will depend on the sufficiency of any evidence they might gather.

Carlos said they could not just arrest a person based on a public disclosure, adding that “a person with a history of drug use may be arrested if there is an outstanding warrant of arrest in connection with the drug offense.”

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency refused to comment on Mr. Duterte’s allegation.

Voluntarily take test

Also on Saturday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who is running for vice president in next year’s elections, reiterated his repeated appeal for politicians to voluntarily undergo drug tests.

“Any accusation of drug use against any candidate will still be for the public to decide: that because a drug user is committing an illegal act, will they want to have him or her become their leader?” he said in a radio interview.

“It should be up to every candidate to just voluntarily take a drug test, in order to show the electorate that he or she is clean. If he or she refuses, then we can all conclude what that means,” he said.

Sotto said he and his standard-bearer, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, had already repeatedly expressed their willingness to be subjected to drug tests, especially in the runup to the polls.

“The [Commission on Elections] can apply this to all candidates, and such testing can be made live, sort of a ‘drug testing challenge,’” he said, noting that the Supreme Court had already overruled his 2008 proposal to require political candidates to undergo mandatory drug tests.

“That might again be shot down as unconstitutional because it will add a new requirement to candidacy, when all that the Constitution requires is the ability to read and write,” he said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM MELVIN GASCON