Catigbian conducts drug test on local employees

HOUSE cleaning takes on another angle as Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas orders a drug test among municipal hall employees, a bold move to make sure that drug related crimes do not happen with government officials and employees as perpetrators. With the resurgence of drug related crimes in reports, Mayor Salinas said he'd rather make sure Catigbian government employees are out of the equation as suspects.

The drive, which is shouldered by the local government and to be administered by Municipal Health Officer Allan Evangelista is cost free for employees, Sangguniang Bayan Secretary Ardissa Estavilla said in an interview recently. This week, a team composed of local government authorities conducted crime prevention symposia on Catigbian's two public, two private high schools and one collegiate school in town, while impressing that information is still the most effective way to prevent crimes.

The team has been to Catigbian High School , Mantacida National High School , Holy Infant Academet in Baang, Immaculate Mary Academy at Poblacion and the Bohol Northeastern College here, sources at the office of the mayor said. The symposia also coincided with an attempt to rob the local First Consolidated Bank of Bohol branch, a stand alone building equipped with an alarm that apparently worked for the police to foil the attempt.

SPO4 Jovito Tampos told in a radio interview that they have been investigating the foiled attempt as the culprits tried to gain entrance by detaching ceiling panels at the back of the bank. This however triggered the alarm, which caused the police to immediately respond. Unluckily however, the bank stands isolated at a vacant lot beside the national highway, at an uncomfortable kilometer away from local police station. The crucial response time delay saved the robbers' skin. The robbers, police investigators theorized to be more than two, have long fled when the police arrived at the scene.

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