Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Friday called for the implementation of random drug testing for all Senate employees following reports that a staff member of Senator Robin Padilla was allegedly using marijuana inside the Senate premises.
According to the report by RH Raymund Dadpaas on DZRH's Rapido Hataw Balita, Sotto, who served as Senate President during the 18th Congress, said he had previously enforced random drug tests to ensure no illegal drug use among employees and lawmakers.
The practice, however, was discontinued after his term as Senate President ended.
The call comes after the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) released an incident report identifying former actress and Padilla's public officer affairs Nadia Montenegro as the person seen inside the ladies’ restroom on the Senate’s fifth floor, from which the smell of marijuana allegedly came.
Montenegro, however, denied the allegations but admitted to carrying a vape in her bag, which she said could have been the source of the scent.
Based on the OSAA's incident report submitted by Senate Security Officer Victor Patelo, in which he informed the OSAA chief, retired Maj. Gen. Mao Aplasca, the "unusual odor" was allegedly detected twice in the women’s restroom at the Senate extension office.
Patelo stated that the first incident happened at 5 p.m. during the second week of July 2025.
"While manning my post on the 5th level, I received a call on the local trunk line of my post from a male staff member, reporting a strong odor in their area," Patelo reported.
However, upon inspecting the said area, Patelo did not observe anyone smoking.
The second incident occurred on Tuesday, August 12, when the male staff of Lacson approached Patelo.
"After introducing himself as a staff member of Senator Lacson, and reported noticing an unusual odor coming from the ladies’ comfort room near the Senators’ extension offices," the report said.
"He claimed the odor resembled that of “marijuana” and stated that the only person in the area at the time was allegedly Ms. Nadia Montenegro," he added.
Meanwhile, Atty. Philip Jurado, Padilla’s lawyer, confirmed that Montenegro was given five days to submit a written explanation while she remains on leave of absence.
The Senate and Padilla's camp are currently conducting a probe into the alleged incident.
