Short answer. Yes. Under the voluntary submission program, both the judicial and medical records of a drug dependent are confidential and may not be used against him for any purpose. There is one narrow exception: they may be checked to count how many times the person has voluntarily submitted for treatment or been committed.
What the law says
Judicial and medical records of drug dependents under the voluntary submission program shall be confidential and shall not be used against him for any purpose
RA 9165, Section 60 — Confidential Voluntary Submission Records. Read the full provision →
Both kinds of record are protected
The law is explicit: "Judicial and medical records of drug dependents under the voluntary submission program shall be confidential and shall not be used against him for any purpose." Notice it covers both the medical file from the treatment center and the judicial record of the submission. The reason is one of policy. The voluntary submission program only works if a person struggling with dependence is willing to come forward, and few would if doing so created a permanent record that could be turned against them later. Confidentiality is the assurance that makes seeking help a safe choice rather than a self-inflicted wound.
"Not used against him for any purpose"
The phrase is deliberately sweeping. It does not merely say the records are sealed from the public; it says they may not be used against him for any purpose. That reaches attempts to hold a person's voluntary rehabilitation over them — in employment, in another proceeding, or as a mark of bad character. Someone who volunteered for treatment is not supposed to have that choice weaponised. The protection attaches to the fact of having sought help under the program, so that stepping forward carries the legal consequence the law intends: treatment, not a lasting stain.
The one exception: counting submissions
There is a single, narrow carve-out. The records may be consulted to determine how many times the person — by himself, or through a parent, spouse, guardian, or relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity — has voluntarily submitted for confinement and treatment, or been committed to a center under the program. This exists because the law does not treat unlimited submissions the same way; the leniency of the voluntary route is not meant to be an endlessly renewable shield. So the count is allowed precisely to police that limit, and for nothing else.
What the confidentiality does and does not reach
The rule protects the records generated by the voluntary program; it is not a general erasure of a person's history. It does not, by itself, wipe out separate criminal liability for acts that fall outside the program, and it does not stop the authorised counting described above. What it does give is real: a person who honestly seeks treatment can do so without those specific records being used to prejudice them elsewhere. If you fear such records are being misused, that misuse runs against what the statute plainly commands. This is general information, not advice on a particular situation.