Emano: Admin case vs. Lago underway

THE capitol is preparing to initiate an administrative case against its weather monitoring officer Vergil Lago in connection with his arrest for alleged shabu use here this week.

Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano yesterday said he would place arrested drug suspect Vergil Lago under preventive suspension even as he vowed to step up the campaign against illegal drugs starting with the seat of the provincial government.

Emano said the capitol would also initiate an administrative case against Lago through the provincial government’s legal office and human resources management office. He said officials have started looking into Lago’s administrative liability.

Police arrested Lago while he was allegedly in the act of substance abuse inside an inn in Barangay 32 here on Tuesday morning.

Authorities said they seized suspected shabu and drug paraphernalia from the top weather monitoring officer of the Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction Management Office.

Emano told local radio he would no longer allow Lago to report back for work at the PDRRMO.

He said this even as he warned that the capitol would strengthen its campaign against substance abuse, and subject workers to drug tests on mere suspicion of being drug users.

Every round of random drug tests would be increased from 70 to 150 employees, and all those suspected to be into substance abuse would be tested, he said.

Emano expressed disappointment over Lago’s arrest, saying it was an embarrassment to the capitol.

Chief Insp. Gilbert Rollen, head of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office’s City Drugs Enforcement Unit, said Lago has been under surveillance for about a month before authorities pounced on him inside the inn.

Police have pressed charges against Lago after he tested positive for drugs. He would be moved to the Lumbia jail from the police’s Maharlika headquarters as soon as the case is filed in court.