‘Marcos tested negative for cocaine in 2021’

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos tested negative for cocaine in November 2021, according to drug examiners of St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) Global City in Taguig.

During the continuation of the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs yesterday, Geresza Reyes, who signed the drug test report, said Marcos tested negative for cocaine use.

“As for the analysis, there is a line that came out. In our drug test kit, there is the control line and the line for the drug analyte. In the result, there was actually a line showing it was negative,” Reyes told the Senate panel chaired by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa.

SLMC Global City drug testing laboratory head Dr. Cecilia Lim, who also signed the report, said the test kit could provide results after two minutes and 54 seconds.

“That’s what the drug testing kit can do. The results came out quickly. The maximum time we allow for the line to come out is five minutes. When the line comes out and won’t go away, you’re negative,” Lim said.

She said the drug kit was like a pregnancy test kit.

Marcos, who was then a presidential candidate, took a cocaine test and submitted the negative result to law enforcement agencies.

He decided to take the drug test after then president Rodrigo Duterte said that a presidential candidate was using cocaine.

Lim clarified that Marcos only asked to be tested for cocaine and not for other types of prohibited drugs.

The resumption of the Senate hearing was part of the leaked documents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which linked Marcos and actress Maricel Soriano to drugs.