By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Regular employees of the Negros Occidental provincial government who tested positive for illegal drugs could still be dismissed, the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) said yesterday.

PLO head, Atty. Alberto Nellas Jr., said they are already taking steps against drug-positive employees while awaiting their confirmatory drug test results.

“Once they get positive [results] in the confirmatory tests, regular employees would face administrative proceedings for grave misconduct and could be dismissed from service,” Nellas said.

He said if the employees test positive, they can still challenge it by undergoing another drug test, but it would be at their own expense.

“Only the governor and the provincial administrator have the copies of the drug test results and confirmatory tests done by a company contracted by the province,” Nellas said.

A total of 27 provincial government employees have tested positive for illegal drugs following a surprise drug test in December of last year.

Earlier, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said more than half of the drug-positive workers were job orders and contract of service employees whose contracts were not renewed./DGB, WDJ