MANILA – Teams from the Department of Health started fanning out on Thursday to selected areas outside Metro Manila for the mandatory and random drug testing of students in the country’s elementary and high schools.
Officials said the teams are to undertake the testing in Cebu in the Visayas, Davao in Mindanao and the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Northern Luzon highlands which have been chosen after students from 15 private and public schools in Metro Manila underwent similar tests on Wednesday.
Secretary Jesli Lapus of the Department of Education said 10 students from each of the 15 Metro Manila schools which were randomly selected were subjected to urinalysis to determine if they have a history of illegal drug abuse.
“There was no resistance from the students,” Lapus said as he accompanied one of teams for the testing. “The parents are also supportive and some even volunteered their children to be tested.”
The testing was ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to determine the extent of drug abuse among students nationwide following warnings that “drug lords” and their cohorts have been targeting the youth to expand their illicit trade.
In mid-January, President Arroyo announced she would take direct command of the renewed government campaign against illegal drugs being spearheaded by the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority.
On the random drug tests for students, Lapus reiterated the results would not be used to discipline students who would fail such tests or as a means to file charges against them in court.
He assured that the campaign adheres to the rule of law and as such, the findings will not be used to expel students.
Lapus also stressed that the campaign would cover schools where drug tests are not required. Other schools already required these tests before enrollment while others, mostly international schools, conduct daily random tests, he added.
Earlier, lawyer Leila de Lima, the head of the Commission on Human Rights, urged the government to defer implementation of the tests, saying that this would violate the rights to privacy and against self-incrimination especially of the students as guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution.
But Lapus and other education department officials countered this was not the first time that such tests were being held.
Officials said the first random drug screening was held in high schools and colleges randomly selected in 2005 and the second was conducted in 2007.
In these two tests, marijuana emerged as the favorite substance of abuse among the students, officials revealed.
Also on Wednesday, members of the Northern Police District (NPD) in Metro Manila, particularly those working as anti-narcotics agents, underwent mandatory tests as part of the command’s determined efforts to cleanse its personnel of drug users.
Chief Superintendent Eric Javier, the NPD director, warned he would recommend the dismissal of those found to be drug addicts or users.
Javier explained that one of the requirements for membership in the 125,000-strong Philippine National Police is that an applicant must be free of illegal drugs.
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