Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency officials monitor the random drug testing among bus driver and conductors at a bus station in Cubao, Quezon City on October 28, 2018. Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — Apart from mandating random drug testing for appointive and elective government officials — including the President — a House bill seeking to amend the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act will also make more expensive hair follicle tests the standard testing method.

Screening and confirmatory tests — used when a person tests positive during screening — use urine samples under current drug test policy.

Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte’s House Bill No. 10744, however, seeks to amend Section 36 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act to require hair follicle drug tests for the screening test.

He said in the explanatory note of the bill that hair follicle testing "does appear to be particularly efficacious and determinative in detecting unreported recent use of cocaine and/or oxycodone."

Under the bill, a urine sample will be used for the confirmatory test.

Amendment to Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act proposed in House Bill No. 10744

The costs of the random testing will "be borne by the expenses of their respective offices under the General Appropriations Act" in the case of the President and other government officials, but other sectors that may be affected by Duterte's proposed amendment might not have that safety net.

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HOW MUCH IS DRUG TESTING NOW?

Under the Dangerous Drug Board’s Board Resolution No. 9, S. 2007 setting drug testing fees, government-owned testing laboratories can charge up to P250 while private labs can charge "not more than P300", with fees [including] the cost of screening and confirmatory tests when needed."

In contrast, hair follicle testing can cost around P15,500 per specimen, according to prices available online.

According to a 2024 study by New York University professor Joseph Palamar — a 2019 study by Palamar was cited in Duterte’s bill to argue for hair follicle testing — the "cost for hair testing – even when only focusing on the most common psychoactive substances – can easily be over $100 per sample."

WHO ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE DRUG TESTS?

According to the Civil Service Commission, drug testing is a requirement "for initial entry to government service" for appointive public officials and employees, with positive drug tests disqualifying aspirants' entry to government service.

Submitting to "mandatory, random and suspicionless drug testing" is also a requirement for staying in government service, although frequency of testing may vary depending on the number of personnel and other logistical factors.

Drug testing is also mandatory for military and law enforcement personnel, with selection "done on a random basis but no personnel must be exempt from the chance of being chosen", according to Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 7, S.2003.

A 2018 Memorandum Order by the Commission on Higher Education also requires mandatory random drug testing with "a student having an equal chance of being selected for testing."

Under the same order, Higher Education Institutions may also require drug testing as part of its admission and retention policies "in the exercise of institutional academic freedom."

The private sector also commonly requires applicants to take urine drug tests as a pre-employment requirement, often initially out of pocket.

Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 8, S.2003 meanwhile requires random testing for private sector employees with an unannounced schedule and where each has "an equal chance of being selected for testing."

Duterte's proposal has met a mixed response, with his sister Vice President Sara Duterte supporting the measure.

"Yes, of course. Unang-una dapat panigurado nating lahat na nasa tamang pag-iisip 'yung ating mga public officials, kasama na ako doon," the Vice President said earlier this week.

(We need to make sure that our leaders are in their right minds. That includes me.)

READ: Sara Duterte backs drug test on gov't officials: 'Para siguradong nasa tamang pag-iisip'

The Philippine News Agency, meanwhile, quoted PBA Party-list Rep. Margarita Nograles saying she hopes the proposed policy would apply across government agencies and would not be used to "single out" specific people.

Davao Oriental 2nd District Rep. Cheeno Almario is quoted in the same PNA article as saying legislation should not be for personal motives.

Although not mentioned in House Bill No. 10744, a growing rift between 2022 political allies President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Duterte has led to allegations of drug use from either camp.

In July, a video of a man supposedly doing drugs was shown in gatherings abroad of the Duterte-linked Maisug group, with hints that President Marcos Jr. was the man in the photo. 

The video was dismissed as fake by government agencies, including the Department of Information and Communications Technology, but critics, including former President Rodrigo Duterte said the only way to debunk the video and the allegations of drug use is for the President to submit to a hair follicle test.

RELATED: Expert warns of escalation in use of deepfakes after release of fake video of Marcos Jr.

Duterte did not heed a similar call over alleged Fentanyl use while he was president.

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