After Congressman Singson was caught using illegal drugs, new rules of conduct have been made by the members of the House of Representatives to undergo all the congressmen in drug testing. Last week, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte was the first congressman who has volunteered to conduct a drug test.
This new rule of the House of Representative to conduct a testing to all its members was apparently imposed after the arrest of Ilocos Sur Representative Ronald Singson in Hong Kong July last year. Singson was charged of 18 months of prison by the Hong Kong government after he was caught bringing six grams of cocaine and two sleeping pills.
According to the chairman of committee on Justice Representative Niel Tupas, the house rules to require the congressmen to undergo drug testing were amended during Singson’s trial in Hong Kong.
When Tupas was asked whether he will also undergo drug test he said: “Yeah, sure, to set an example to other officials of the government”.
Manila Representative Amado Bagatsing said that he does not need to conduct a drug test anymore for he has been undergoing regular medical checkups including blood and urine test.
He said “I just recently had one so I think there’s no need for me to participate on the testing. Mine is complete medical tests.”
Bagatsing also added that there’s nothing wrong about the new rule, in fact this will help the people to know whether their elected representatives are using prohibited drugs.
A voluntary drug test was also done by San Juan City Representative Joseph Victor Ejercito at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA.
Ejercito said in one of his statement that public office is a public trust, and people are expecting that they will do their jobs with integrity to honor the public trust that put them in office.