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Kilili heeds the speaker’s call for lawmakers to undergo drug test
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Posted on Nov 25 2011
Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) heeded House Speaker Eli Cabrera’s (R-Saipan) call for lawmakers to undergo drug test, to help remove suspicion in anyone’s mind about lawmakers on the heels of Rep. Ray Palacios’ (Cov-Saipan) arrest on charges of drug trafficking.
Sablan volunteered to take a drug test on Nov. 3, and the result came back “negative” for drug use. A copy of the drug test result was obtained only yesterday.
“The speaker has asked other members to do it. I’m not part of the [CNMI] Legislature but I think I should be treated no more, no less than other elected officials so I did volunteer, and went on my own [to take a drug test],” he said in an interview yesterday.
The delegate is only the sixth among CNMI elected officials to voluntarily undergo drug test in the wake of the speaker’s call.
House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) separately said yesterday that he has yet to get copies of the results of drug tests of other members of the Special Standing Committee on Official Conduct and Ethics, which he chairs.
The committee was specifically created to investigate Rep. Raymond Palacios’ alleged drug use. Palacios stepped down as chairman of the House Committee on Education.
The speaker was the first one to voluntarily undergo a drug test and the result came back “negative.” Camacho’s drug test result also came back “negative.”
Three other House members who underwent drug testing—committee members Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota) and Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan)—have yet to report the results of their drug tests as of yesterday, said Camacho.
