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Cotabato City officials, employees undergo drug testing

By Edwin Fernandez

October 16, 2019, 9:29 pm

<p><strong>DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE.</strong> The urine specimen of Cotabato City government workers who underwent a mandatory drug test conducted by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Wednesday (Oct. 16, 2019). A total of 2,300 city government workers, including village officials and job order employees, were expected to undergo drug testing. <em>(Photo courtesy of Cotabato CIO)</em></p>

DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE. The urine specimen of Cotabato City government workers who underwent a mandatory drug test conducted by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Wednesday (Oct. 16, 2019). A total of 2,300 city government workers, including village officials and job order employees, were expected to undergo drug testing. (Photo courtesy of Cotabato CIO)

COTABATO CITY -- To sustain Cotabato City’s “drug cleared” status, officials, and personnel of the local government underwent a surprise and mandatory drug testing Wednesday morning.

“Also included in the drug test were village officials, including job order workers of the barangay government,” said Rolen Balquin, Cotabato City public safety office chief.

Balquin said no one was spared from the drug test, including the city mayor down to temporary, casual, contractual and job order employees of the city government.

Balquin led Wednesday’s first batch of workers who submitted themselves to drug testing by personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM).

In a statement, Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said the drug test complied with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 66 or the “Drug-Free Workplace Program.”

The mandatory drug tests were simultaneously taken at the city hall premises along Esteros district, and at the city health office situated on Maria Clara Street, Barangay Rosary Heights-Mother for other employees.

A total of 2,300 officials and employees were expected to undergo the drug test. (PNA)

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