Please see the following code

<form id="crear" name="crear" method="post" action="<?=$PHP_SELF?>" >
<table width="916" height="131" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="475" valign="top">
<fieldset>
<legend> <font color="#000099" size="2" face="Tahoma">Ordenes de suspension</font> </legend>
<table width="473" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">
<tr>
<td colspan="2"></td>
<td colspan="8">
</td>
<td width="93">&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="10"><strong>Fecha de Orden de suspencion </strong></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="51"> Inicio: </td>
<td colspan="1">
<input type="date" id="fecCita1" name="fecCita1"><br></td>
<td width="30"><div align="right"><img src="../imagenes/delete.gif" width="13" height="12" alt="Limpiar" onclick="document.crear.fecCita1.value='';" /></div></td>
<td width="51"> Fin: </td>
<td colspan="1">
<input type="date" id="fecCita2" name="fecCita2"
><br></td>
<td width="30"><div align="right"><img src="../imagenes/delete.gif" width="13" height="12" alt="Limpiar" onclick="document.crear.fecCita2.value='';" /></div></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tr>
<td width="58">Contratista: </td><?php echo $var_text; ?>
<td width="215">
<select name="contratista" id="contratista" tabindex="4">
<option value="">Seleccione una opcion</option>
<?php
$sqld = "SELECT nombre FROM contratista";
$rs = odbc_exec($conexion, $sqld);
while ($row = odbc_fetch_array($rs)) {
$contratista_nombre = $row['nombre'];
echo"<option value='$contratista_nombre'>$contratista_nombre</option>";
}
?>
</select></td>
<td width="100"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Empleado: </td>
<td id="tdEmpleados">
<select name="empleado" tabindex="5">
<option value="">Seleccione una Opcion</option>
<?PHP
$sqle = "SELECT cod_empl, nombre FROM empleado ORDER BY nombre";
$rse = odbc_exec($conexion, $sqle);
while ($row = odbc_fetch_array($rse)) {
$empleado_datos = "[".$row['cod_empl']."] ".$row['nombre'];
$empleado_bd = $row['nombre'];
echo'<option value="'.$empleado_datos.'">'.$empleado_datos.'</option>';
}
?>
</select></td>
<td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Barrio:</td>
<td id="tdBarrios">
<select name="Barrios" tabindex="6">
<option value="">Seleccione una Opcion</option>
<?php
$sqlb = "SELECT descripcion FROM barrio ORDER BY descripcion";
$rsb = odbc_exec($conexion, $sqlb);
while ($row = odbc_fetch_array($rsb)) {
$barrio_dato = $row['descripcion'];
echo"<option value='$barrio_dato'>$barrio_dato</option>";
}
?>
</select></td>
<td><input name="generar" type="submit" class="boton" id="generar" tabindex="3" accesskey="B" value="Buscar"></td>
</tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</table>
</fieldset>
</tr>
</table>

The form has its end (/form) far bottom so dont worry, is just that all my $_POST are getting blank values from a the dropdown, I have checked using

if (isset($_POST['contratista'])) {
$var_contratista = $_POST['contratista'];
if ($var_contratista =" ") {
$contratista_bool = false;
$var_text = $var_text."true ".$var_contratista;
}else {
$contratista_bool = true;
$var_text = $var_text."false ".$var_contratista;
$opt = 1;
}

}

Also with the other $_POST variables, I hit SUBMIT from my input and every info that was selected from my dropdowns or date are " " for the selected dropdowns or 0 for dates