CAPITOL EMPLOYEES UNDERGO DRUG TESTS

Twenty percent of the more than 2,000 employees of the Negros
Occidental provincial government were subjected to random drug-testing
that began yesterday.

Aside from about 400 employees, the tests are also mandatory for all
department and office heads, and chiefs of hospitals.

We are conducting drug tests at the Capitol because we want to assure
the public that our employees are drug free, Gov. Joseph Maranon said
yesterday.

We condemn drug abuse and will not tolerate it, he said.

The two-day random drug-testing is being conducted at the Capitol by
personnel of the drug testing laboratory of the Negros Occidental Drug
Rehabilitation Center based in Victorias.

Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Legal
Office, said that if an employee is found positive for drugs, a
confirmatory test will be conducted on the same urine sample in Manila
to determine exactly what drugs were ingested and the quantity.

She said the drug tests are being conducted following the arrest by
the police of one Capitol employee in September and an acting
treasurer in Talisay in drug busts.

The drug-testing will help ensure a risk-free working environment at
the Capitol, she said.

She said that, after the two-day random tests that end today, future
random tests will be conducted as the need arises.*