Vice President Sara calls for joint drug testing and supports bill on mandatory testing

Vice President Sara Duterte has declared her willingness to undergo a hair follicle drug test together with Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and Congressman Paolo Duterte.

She expressed her support for House Bill 10744, introduced by her brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte, which requires random drug testing using hair follicle samples every six months for all elected and appointed government officials, including the President.

The bill also provides for the institutionalization of voluntary drug testing for election candidates within 90 days before the elections.

Public officials who test positive face suspension or dismissal, a measure she believes is crucial to ensure government officials are “of sound mind.”

She stressed the need for a law requiring random drug testing for government officials: “We need a law that regulates this and specifies how drug testing should be done,” Duterte said in an interview with reporters on Saturday.

“We will take new measures to regulate it and conduct drug testing.” “In the event that a test must be conducted, you will have to be content with the question of whether a drug test can only be conducted with other guidelines,” she continued.

She stressed the importance of involving a third party to ensure the validity of the results. “A third party should collect the samples and we should also have our own samples tested,” she said.

She explained that her decision to adopt the drug test was due to public demand. “When such a request comes from the population and is legitimate and reasonable, you have to listen to the public's demands,” she said.

The Vice President was in Davao City on Saturday and donated her book titled “Isang Kaibigan” to the Library and Information Center. She read books to several children from Field of Dreams, Quick Response Team for Children, Paginhawaan Drop-In Center for Children, Balay Dangupan and Sidlakan.

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