PADAC IN ACTION

LINGAYEN – With the big number of drug personalities that surrendered, the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) chaired by Gov. Amado I. Espino III has set in its regular agenda the need to fast track its plans for their rehabilitation.

To sustain the momentum of the campaign, the provincial government will conduct random drug-testing of Capitol employees and barangay officials.

“We are now threading an unchartered territory but we have to start somewhere,” the governor said.

Gov. Espino said that arrangements are already being discussed with Camp Tito Abat in Manaoag town as a possible site to house some surrenderees until the rehabilitation center in Burgos town is completed.

Aside from its conducive atmosphere, the 40-hectare lot Camp Abat, Mr. Espinos said the camp is an ideal site as a half-way house for drug dependents because the 600 army reservists in the camp can be tapped to assist in some activities of the drug rehab program.

It is important, he said, for the individuals to know where they will be sent after voluntarily surrendering to the authority.

The governor told the meeting that he just signed an Executive Order last July 27 directing the mandatory random drug-testing for some 5,000 Capitol employees.

He said he and Vice Governor Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr., also the  executive director of PADAC, will be the first to take the drug test and they hope to  convince members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to follow suit.

The new provincial chief executive also said that he is seeking the support of the SP to institutionalize the mandatory random drug-testing from the provincial level to the barangay level.

Earlier, Provincial Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued explained, “Mandatory but random drug-testing is justifiable for officers and employees of public and private offices as the need for drug-testing to at least minimize illegal drug use is substantial enough to override the individual’s privacy.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Espino conveyed his sympathies to the families of victims of alleged extra-judicial killings and assured that concerned agencies will look into their plight.

Vice Gov. Calimlim, said told the meeting of a need to strike a balance between the police action and need to rehabilitate drug personalities.

“We have to find a way to sustain everything, “ he said. “A tight coordination between the provincial government and all the agencies will must be had,” he added. (RRB_PIO) 

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