Partido Reporma chairman and presidential standard-bearer Panfilo Lacson and his running mate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, underwent a voluntary multi-drug test procedure, Monday, the first political tandem to accept the random drug test.
They went to an unscheduled screening of their urine samples at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) office in Diliman, Quezon City at around 1:00 pm.
Lacson told reporters their decision to undergo a random drug test was their “way of walking the talk.”
Five hours later, both yielded negative results.
“Because there were a lot of challenges [for candidates to undergo voluntary drug testing]. No more words necessary, we just came here today” Lacson told reporters who caught him and Sotto for a brief interview at the PDEA lobby after they took the test.
According to Lacson, it was Sotto who initiated that they both take the drug test yesterday.
The Senate President confirmed it and explained it was due to the many challenges they were hearing from so many people over the weekend.
Sotto reiterated they had been submitting themselves to voluntary drug screenings even during previous election seasons out of their own volition, especially him, since he was the principal author of the 2002 Dangerous Drugs Act.
The Senate President explained he included a provision for every individual seeking a public office, whether for a national or local position, to submit himself or herself to a random drug test procedure as well but that provision was nixed by the Supreme Court.
Lacson said he and Sotto went through the entire multi-drug test procedure like ordinary individuals going through a comprehensive pre-employment physical assessment.
“It was a very tedious and meticulous [process]. Even when we were peeing, the doctor was on guard, insisted that the door was not shut,” Lacson said.
It was Lacson who suggested making the test at random to ensure authentic results. Lacson said it is the reason he and Sotto decided to go on an unscheduled visit to the PDEA office Monday afternoon for their own drug screening.
The Lacson-Sotto drug test came one day after Philippine National Police chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos urged all presidential candidates to submit to a drug test.
“The PNP acknowledges that no law mandates the candidate to undergo a drug test but doing so will set an example to their countrymen by proving that they aren’t users of illegal drugs,” Carlos said.
Carlos’s call came after President Rodrigo Duterte alleged that a presidential candidate he did not name was a cocaine user.
Carlos has ordered the PNP’s Drug Enforcement Group to look into President Duterte’s allegation.
Presidential spokesman and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Palace was leaving the fate of the alleged illegal drug user to law enforcement agencies.
“PDEG has been tasked to work on this info,” Carlos said in a text message sent to reporters.
The Commission on Elections last week said it could not force candidates in the 2022 national elections to submit to mandatory drug testing as substance abuse was not a ground for disqualification.
“Substance abuse is not among the disqualifications provided for by law. In any case, the Comelec did try to require candidates to submit a negative drug test [result] several elections ago. The move was disapproved.
The camp of presidential aspirant and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday brushed off the President’s claims that a candidate for chief executive was a cocaine user.
“We don’t feel alluded to,” Marcos’ spokesperson, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, said in a radio interview, adding that Marcos had the “highest respect” for Duterte.
