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PNP-IAS: 349 cops tested positive for illegal drugs

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Maan Macapagal, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has intensified random drug testing for police personnel to rid the organization of &quot;scalawags&quot;. “Maraming pinangalanan ang ating pangulo na involved sa illegal trade ng droga kaya pinaigting ng PNP ang kampanya laban sa droga dito sa mga miyembro ng PNP mismo,” said Atty. Alfegar Triambulo, inspector general of the PNP Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS). (Our president has named many involved in the illegal drug trade and the PNP has strengthened its campaign against illegal drugs within its ranks.)From random drug tests conducted by the PNP and police caught in buy-bust operations from July 2016 to May 7, 2018, around 349 police personnel tested positive for illegal drugs use, particlarly shabu.Of the 349, 341 are uniformed personnel and 8 are non-uniformed. Those with a Police Officer 1 rank had the most number of offenders with 115, while there were 66 PO2s and 58 are PO3s. One officer with a police superintendent rank was also caught. A total of 273 were dismissed from the service, while 5 police officers who tested positive for drug use have died during anti illegal drug operations. The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) had the most number of drug users.The PNP-IAS said some of the police officers caught using illegal drugs go on absent without leave (AWOL) status and do not wait for administrative cases to be filed against them.Triambulo said some of them give lame excuses. “Sila daw ay nasa operation at baka huli sila ng nagpa-&#x27;pot session&#x27; kaya ina-assume na kaya &#x27;yung urine nila mayroong chemicals ng illegal drugs pero &#x27;yan po ay wala pang scientific na findings. Na ikaw po ay ma-expose sa isang nag &#x27;pot session&#x27; ay ang urine mo ay magkakaroon din ng chemicals tulad ng shabu,” Triambulo said. Triambulo also said the police officers submit confirmatory tests but IAS is not convinced of the result. “Ginagawa nila yan after 1 week or 1 month, pero hindi po kasi &#x27;yan ang issue kase, nung siya ay dinrug test, iyung urine na &#x27;yon, siya ay nag-positive,” he explained. (They do it after a week or a month, but that is not the issue because when he underwent a drug test, he tested positive using that urine sample.)Random drug tests are done based on the unit head&#x27;s recommendation. “Ang mga nagre-request niyan ay mga head ng mga unit. Sila ang nakaalam ng mga suspetsa, ng mga signs ng kanilang mga tauhan na gumagamit ng shabu,” Triambulo said. (The unit heads request for the drug test. They know who might be into drugs, there are signs that their men use shabu.)PNP Special Action Force (SAF) member PO3 Lyn Tubig was recently arrested after she was caught having a drug session in Taguig. PNP-SAF Director Noli Taliño said Tubig was assigned in Bilibid doing administrative work, ruling out the possibility that she may have interacted with some of the inmates there. She was also never assigned in operations. “Ang nagbibigay ng pangalan &#x27;yung battalion commander ng mga personnel. Considering yung population ng babae sa amin medyo ang liit lang. Purely admin yung kanilang trabaho,” Taliño said. (It is the battalion commander who submits the names of the personnel. There is only a small number of female cops. They do mostly administrative work.)Taliño said Tubig is a single mom who suffered from depression when her mother passed away last March 2018. She became inefficient in her work and reportedly experienced a nervous breakdown. When she was transferred to another battalion, she went AWOL for half a month beginning April 2018. According to Chief Inspector Michelle Cruz, psychiatrist at the Neuro Psychiatric Division of the PNP Health Service, police also experience family and financial and work problems, which may lead some of them to use illegal drugs. “It could be social, family, yung peers nila, sa environment. Most of the time, it’s their choice, if they want to do drugs or not. There are plenty of stresses that come into play, pwedeng maging family, or people they are with,” Cruz said. “They are always deployed, siyempre they are far from their families, nagkakaroon din ng problema yung kanilang pamilya,” Cruz added. (They are always deployed and they are far from their families. Their families also go through problems.)Cruz said many police personnel have expressed their desire to attend stress management seminars given by the PNP Health Service. “We do massive info campaign. We do stress management on different units nationwide,” Cruz said.

The Philippine National Police has strengthened its random testing for police personnel since it took on the process of internal cleansing to rid the organization of scalawags.

The Philippine National Police has strengthened its random testing for police personnel since it took on the process of internal cleansing to rid the organization of scalawags.

PNP-IAS: 349 cops tested positive for illegal drugs

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PNP-IAS: 349 cops tested positive for illegal drugs

Maan Macapagal,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 04, 2018 10:08 PM PHT

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Updated June 04, 2018 10:51 PM PHT

Read More:

PNP

internal cleansing

war on drugs

scalawags

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