Congress panics at drug test.
HOUSE guards belonging to the Legislative Security Bureau (LSB) went into panic yesterday after a surprise drug test was conducted by health personnel from the Dangerous Drugs Board in what the chairman of the House committee on accounts said is a continuing campaign to "rid the institution of drug addicts and users."
About 300 congressional regular and contractual employees took the test, including many of those who failed or intentionally avoided a similar test conducted by the same health personnel late last year. At that time, at least six congressional employees, including three from the LSB, were found positive of using illegal drugs.
Three of the six employees have been dismissed, said Rep. Robert "Ace" Barbers (Lakas, Surigao del Norte), chairman of the House committee on accounts. One was Barber's constituent and a son of one of his political allies.
"Let this be a warning to all drug users in this institution. We will not hesitate to fire and file charges against them once we confirm that they are into illegal drugs," Barbers stressed.
House Deputy Secretary General for Legal Affairs Leonardo Laciste said one of those dismissed, a member of the LSB, was a "recidivist" having been found positive for illegal drugs use a number of times in the past.
Laciste said it was Barbers himself who ordered the dismissal of a certain Christopher, also a member of the LSB, to set an example that the congressman does not tolerate the wrongdoing of a House employee, even if he is a constituent.
He said another employee of the printing department has also been fired for similar offense, adding the three dismissed employees will be "forever barred" from joining government service, a punishment that Barbers said is suited for a "despicable offense."
Laciste, also chairman of the House disciplinary board, said the three other employees, although first-time offenders, have been suspended for six months without pay and placed under the close scrutiny of their immediate supervisors.
One of them, an employee of the printing department, has also been directed to undertake periodic drug tests while under suspension, Laciste said.
"If he will be found still using illegal drugs, he will also be fired," he added.
Angelo Villlanueva, Barber's chief of staff, said House officials will hold supervisors responsible for employees who refuse or evade the drug tests.
Villanueva explained that a provision in the contract between the House and Fortune Care, the chamber's health provider, allows random drug tests among congressional employees "to ensure their physical and mental fitness."
SOURCE: MSN News
THEY SHOULD CONDUCT SURPRISE DRUG TESTS TO THE CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS THEMSELVES AND NOT JUST THEIR STAFF OR CONTRACTUAL EMPLOYEES. I BET THAT WILL MAKE THEM PANIC EVEN MORE, FRANTIC EVEN.
:P
Congress panics at drug test.
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