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MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/5 October)–Two more city hall employees here have tested positive for drug use and they will lost their jobs, officials said yesterday.
The latest mandatory drug testing is part of city hall’s requirement for the employment renewal of job order workers.
Ellen Avanzado, chief of the Bukidnon Police Crime Laboratory Office, told MindaNews on the phone that two of the 965 employees who submitted urine samples failed the drug test conducted early this week. Avanzado said they were not able to accommodate the rest of the 1,200 job order employees, although Mayor Ignacio W. Zubiri said they have scheduled an extension. Zubiri said he has not yet received the report but stressed that job order employees who failed the drug test will no longer be renewed. The city government renews the contract of job order employees every quarter.
In his memorandum on October 1, Zubiri cited Administrative Order No. 14, which states that failure to comply with the mandatory drug test on the scheduled dates will be grounds for non-renewal of job order appointments.
Those caught tampering their urine samples will also be subjected to disciplinary action with the maximum penalty of non-renewal. The order covered all city government-paid job order employees, including those who were laid-off from July 01, 2012 to September 30, 2012, and were scheduled for reappointment this month. Zubiri told MindaNews that a total of six job order employees have been denied renewal of employment for failing the drug tests.
Three of them were part of the eight city hall employees caught on six video footages using shabu while in uniform, as reported by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in January 2012. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)