Should Marcos undergo drug test? PDEA says it's 'voluntary'

After former President Rodrigo Duterte accused President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of being a drug addict, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Monday remained firm that they cannot compel anyone to take a drug test as it has to be voluntary.

At a press conference, PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said this when asked if PDEA is in position to recommend Marcos to undergo a drug test, despite the agency already stating that the President was never on its drug watch list.

“Tandaan natin na sa ilalim ng ating batas ngayon, ang drug test ay dapat boluntaryo o ginagawa ng isang indibidwal [remember that under the law, drug tests must be voluntary or performed by an individual] regardless of whomever you are and you don’t even have to be an elected official or someone in power,” Carreon said.

“Anyone, even a common citizen, cannot be compelled to undertake a drug test. It has to be voluntary,” he added.

Carreon also pointed out that PDEA’s primary functions are only to conduct forensic examination on confiscated pieces of evidence and to conduct drug tests on arrested personalities.

He, however, said he believes that Marcos will “gladly oblige” to undergo a voluntary drug test.

“Nasa sa kanila na ‘yun. But I’m sure the President will gladly oblige…kasi na drug test na siya dati and besides, wala naman siya sa listahan namin,” the PDEA official said.

(It’s now up to them. But I'm sure the President will gladly oblige because he already took a drug test before and besides, he's not on our list.)

Negative results

In November 2021, Marcos, who was then still a presidential aspirant, said he took a cocaine test and submitted the negative result to law enforcement agencies.

This came days after Duterte claimed that a presidential aspirant was using cocaine which is a prohibited substance. Duterete did not name the presidential aspirant.

“Some time before the election, if I remember right, it was in November of 2021, our President in fact submitted voluntarily to a drug test, to a Department of Health-accredited facility, and the result thereof was negative,” Carreon recalled.

He also said that PDEA will not give favors to Marcos just because it is an attached agency of the Office of the President.

“Hindi naman po ‘yan ibig sabihin na just because we are under the Office of the President ay we will favor the President. The facts are clearly stated—wala po siya sa listahan even with the previous supposed narco list,” Carreon said.

(It does not mean that just because we are under the Office of the President, we will already favor the President. The facts are clearly stated—he is not on the list even with the previous supposed narco list.)

Drug addict?

Duterte on Sunday accused Marcos of being a drug addict and claimed the latter was included in PDEA’s drug watch list during his term as mayor of Davao City.

But earlier in the day, PDEA said that Marcos' name was not on the narco list the Duterte administration came out with during the ex-President's term. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News