65 military personnel discharged last year due to positive drug test

May 23, 2017

A total of 65 military personnel, including one officer, were discharged from service as a result of last year’s mandatory drug testing in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “AFP personnel who tested positive for using prohibited drugs were discharged or dismissed from the service, which included one military officer, 64 enlisted personnel, 14 civilian active auxiliaries (CAAs) and four civilian employees for calendar year 2016,”  Arsenio Andolong, defense department public affairs chief said. Andolong said a total of 30,974 military officers, enlisted personnel, and civilian employees of the AFP were subjected to drug testing in previous year. He said a total of 1,821 military personnel have already undergone drug testing on the first quarter. Andolong confirmed that nine were dismissed for illegal drug use. The conduct of the mandatory drug testing among the military personnel is part of the AFP’s effort to support the anti-illegal drug campaign of the government. Andolong said in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority thrust against the proliferation of anti-illegal drugs, the Department of National Defense (DND) also conducted a DND-wide orientation seminar workshop for a drug-free workplace at the AFP Commissioned Officers Club, Camp Aguinaldo. He said the resource speakers from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), Department of Health (DOH), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) discussed the Global and National Drug Situation; Government Efforts, Programs and Activities on Drug Prevention and Control; Treatment and Rehabilitation; Guidelines for a Drug-Free Workplace; and the Reintegration and Transformation Program of the National Government during the seminar. Andolong said “as part of the DND-Wide Implementing Plan for Calendar Year 2017, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana signed a Memorandum to DND-Proper and its Bureaus on 29 January 2017 directing the implementation of the Guidelines for a Drug-Free Workplace, to include the conduct of mandatory drug test as a pre-employment requirement; random drug test for personnel; advocacy, education and training programs and activities; display of messages for a drug-free workplace; and physical fitness programs.” “The Department monitors the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations in support to the PDEA and the PNP,” he said. “It likewise supports the Inter-Agency Task Force for the establishment of Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers with the setting up of rehabilitation centers in certain military reservations,” he added. (Robina Asido/DMS)