UNO HITS GOV'T'S PROPOSED DRUG TESTS FOR STUDENTS

The United Opposition (UNO) yesterday denounced the government's
proposed mandatory or random drug testing schemes for students as a
serious affront to human rights which will give rise to more
corruption in the government's campaign against illegal drugs.

"This is not the serious pre-emptive war on drugs that was promised
by President Arroyo, the self-proclaimed 'Anti-Drug Czar,'" said
lawyer-educator Adel Tamano, spokesman for the UNO. "We fear that
this mandatory or random drug testing schemes will become, just like
in most cases under the Arroyo administration, another money-making
venture for businessmen-cronies who will again exploit another
unnecessary government mandate."

Tamano, who heads the Association of Local Colleges and Universities
(ACLU), said drug testing schemes "will unduly punish students for
the government's failure to arrest big-time drug lords and their
dealers who are protected by corrupt government prosecutors and law
enforcers."

"If the Arroyo administration is serious about winning the war
against illegal drugs, government officials and law enforcers as well
as their families who can afford drugs in the first place should be
the ones to first undergo mandatory drug testing," he added.

"The only plausible reason that the Arroyo administration is choosing
the public school system for drug testing is because it is a
potential money-making scheme involving a more than a million
students in over 8,000 schools. It does not take a genius to
understand that the billions of pesos involved are better used to
close the gap in the lack of classrooms and books in the public
school system."

Tamano noted that the proposed implementation of the drug testing for
students would only lead to more corruption as in the case of the
Land Transportation Office where complaints of jeepney drivers abound
that the mandatory drug test imposed on them was being used by
corrupt LTO personnel to extort money.

Earlier, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus had said his department was
unfazed by questions over "right to privacy" and stood pat on its
legal grounds to conduct random drug tests on students.

Lapus said he was confident parents will allow their children to be
subjected to random drug tests which he said are mandated by law. But
he added the Department of Education was eyeing an arrangement with
the Department of Health to provide counseling to the students who
will be subjected to the random drug tests. Lapus said the random
drug tests are allowed under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2003.