In hot waterand Kidapawan cop allegedly submits water, alcohol for drug test

KIDAPAWAN CITY -For refusing to undergo a mandatory drug test, the city mayor here has recommended the preventive relief of a member of the local police. On Monday, Mayor Joseph Evangelista submitted his recommendation for the immediate preventive relief of Police Officer 3 Ricky Santos, an operative of the intelligence unit of the Kidapawan City PNP. Evangelista, citing results of his own probe, said that Santos resisted undergoing mandatory drug test in workplace on July 17. The Cotabato PNP Crime Laboratory under the Scene of the Crime Operative (SOCO) conducted the tests among 88 members of the Kidapawan City PNP, including their head, Superintendent Franklin Anito. This is my take on this.As a police officer,you are required under the law to undergo a mandatory drug test.But PO3 Santos refused.This is simple [logic].If he’s not into drug use, then why resist?” asked the mayor. He urged the regional police office in Central Mindanao to conduct an investigation on Santos’s case. The PNP-12 should investigate.Otherwise, if they conduct drug test, any member of the PNP can just say no and not face sanctions,” the mayor said. This as Evangelista told SOCO and PNP Crime Laboratory to submit Santos’s urine sample to Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the PNP, for the confirmatory test. Evangelista was told the sample submitted by Santos was a mixture of water and alcohol. Police Officer 3 Santos has his personal reasons.But of course, this is mandatory drug test.Under our policy, all members of the police should comply to this,” said city police director Superintendent Franklin Anito. Santos, in a text message, denied the allegations hurled against him. He said he submitted urine samples to the Crime Laboratory for three times. Mahigpit ang proseso na dinaanan koduring the conduct of the drug test.Three timesna ako nagpabalik-balik sacomfort roomatthree timesdin nila ako pinabantayan. Evangelista said he is supporting the mandatory drug tests among the police personnel in the city. In fact, he provided the kits last Friday’s drug test. Our campaign against illegal drugs is year in, year out.This is part and parcel of our program.We can’t just tell our people that we will arrest all those behind illegal drugs if our policemen are into drug use.This will also erase the image of the police that there are coddlers of drug users and pushers among their group,” said Evangelista. When asked about his preventive relief, Santos said, I can’t go further on that.I still have no lawyer at this time.What I can assure the public is that all those things hurled against me are not true,” he said.