TAMANO QUESTIONS BEFORE SC DRUG TEST SCHEME FOR STUDENTS

A lawyer yesterday said he would go to court to stop the government
from enforcing the mandatory drug testing for students in public
schools in the country.

Speaking to the Tribune, lawyer Adel Tamano who is the president of
the Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ACLU), said he
will file a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) for the tribunal
to be afforded an opportunity to rule on the validity of this program.

"I am convinced this affront to the civil rights of our students
should not be allowed in a democratic country and hopeful our case
will enrich the jurisprudence on the rights of individuals," Tamano
said.

Tamano and other oppositors could face an uphill battle in the high
court. Last year the SC declared as unconstitutional the mandatory
drug testing for candidates for public office and persons accused of
crimes. The high tribunal, however, upheld the constitutionality of
the provisions of the drug law pertaining to the random drug testing
of secondary and tertiary school students as well as for officials
and employees of public and private offices.

The SC en banc decision written by Associate Justice Presbitero
Velasco Jr. declared as unconstitutional Section 36 (6) of Republic
Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 6486.

The decision resolved three consolidated petitions for certiorari and
prohibition filed by the Social Justice Society (SJS) lawyer Manuel
Laserna Jr. and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. assailing the
constitutionality of Section 36 of RA 9165 that compels candidates
for public office, students of secondary and tertiary levels,
employees and officials of both the public and private sectors and
persons charged before the prosecutor's office with certain offenses,
to undergo random drug testing.

Tamano, United Opposition (UNO) spokesman, earlier had denounced the
government's proposed mandatory or random drug testing schemes for
students, saying it 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.'"

"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 said.

Tamano added the drug testing scheme "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 said. "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 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.