By JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondent .
COMMISSION on Elections regional director Renato Magbutay over the weekend ruled out the possibility of random drug tests on Comelec officials and employees in the region anytime soon due to lack of funds.
Magbutay said this after provincial elections supervisor Carlito Ravelo said he would recommend that Comelec workers in his office be subjected to drug tests following the arrest of Gitagum election officer Jose Mari Fernandez for allegedly selling shabu.
But Ravelo said he was aware of the Comelec regional office’s financial limitations.
Even before Fernandez’s arrest on Wednesday, Magbutay said he has been requesting the Comelec central office to allow Comelec workers in northern Mindanao to be tested but there has been no reply yet.
“I really wanted to implement the program here in Region 10 but I cannot because it needs a budget,” said Magbutay, citing that it has been required by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to all government offices.
He said the Comelec “is too centralized” that even the budgets of its local offices for office supplies have to be requested from Comelec-Manila.
“We been requesting the central office so we can conduct drug tests but, sad to note, our central office has nor acted on it,” Magbutay said.
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