MONITORING DRUG TESTS AND TESTERS

We hope this is not another show of concern meant more for media mileage
than actual reform. The recent directive of Local Government Secretary Joey
Lina to all local chief executives to closely monitor the drug testing
centers in their areas has really been long overdue. This time, the order
must have been issued to complement the recent instructions from the
government to transfer the administration of the drug tests to the
Department of Health, that should have been charged with it since the
beginning.

For reasons known only to its proponents, the drug tests were initially
assigned to centers that were under the supervision of the Land
Transportation Office. That alone was enough to raise eyebrows in all
sectors of society, since the LTO is not exactly the agency that one would
think of entrusting a function that is more likely to be associated with
those that have connections or backgrounds in drug and laboratory testings.

However, since it had been so mandated, people, drivers especially,
complied and brought themselves to those centers, many of which were
downright questionable, not only in their set-up but also in the type of
personnel assigned in them, to comply with the requirement.

It did not take long before those who subjected themselves to such testing
began to question the procedures, and especially the costs, of what
generally were perfunctory samplings that didn't seem to assure anybody of
their accuracy or usefulness.

The directive of Lina says that the local executives should coordinate with
the Department of Health and see to it that the centers it has accredited
have the competence, integrity and capacity to conduct the necessary tests,
and impose penalties on violators.

Are our governors, mayors and other local government officials capable of
doing this? Anticipating this, Lina has also asked his own DILG people to
monitor them, in turn. Will his staff also be monitored? How far up in the
hierarchy will the monitoring go on?