CONCEPCION, Tarlac (October 30, 2024) — The chief executive here accepted a political opponent’s challenge for him to take a drug test.
Mayor Noel Villanueva volunteered to have himself tested for drugs by this town’s Municipal Health Office and Healthcore Diagnostic Center less than 24 hours after the challenge was posed by former mayor Andres Lacson. Both tests yielded negative results.
“Buri ng sabyan [referring to the two negative drug test results], ali tamu pu drug user kalupa na ning sasankan ng Mister Lacson. Nung mamye yang paratang, dapat atin yang katunayan,” Villanueva said.
(This means that I am not a drug user as claimed by Mister Lacson. If you accuse someone, you must provide proof.)
Villanueva and Lacson will be vying for the mayoralty post next year.
In a speech broadcast live on Facebook last Sunday, Lacson challenged Villanueva to a debate on the condition that he must take a drug test.
“If he [Villanueva] wants, we can have a debate in the plaza, on the condition that before the debate, we should be tested for drugs. Tell him that. We should be tested for drugs. After that he should get an NBI clearance … because he might be on drugs and he’ll lie again. I’m not saying that he’ll be on drugs, but he might,” Lacson said in Kapampangan during a public sortie.
Lacson’s Facebook post has since been deleted.
The chief of police, PLtCol. Romualdo Andres, municipal health officers, and members of the Tarlac media witnessed the drug testing on Villanueva.
Ironically, it was Lacson who was tagged as a narco-politician back in 2017.
The Inter-Agency Validation Task Force composed of the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of the Interior and Local Government, Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency issued a resolution on October 30, 2017, tagging two Tarlac mayors — Lacson and Camiling mayor Erlon Agustin — of involvement in illegal drugs activity.
NAPOLCOM then removed Lacson’s powers over the police. This was reinstated by NAPOLCOM shortly after Lacson won the 2019 elections.
The narco list was compiled monthly by the Task Force and submitted to then-President Rodrigo Duterte.
