<?php print $divID; ?>

function onDropEvent(draggable,droparea){
    var url="phpScript.php";
    var rand   = Math.random(9999);
    var pars   = 'divID=' + draggable.id + '&rand=' + rand;
    var myAjax = new Ajax.Request( url, {method: 'get',  
                          parameters: pars, onComplete: showID} );
}
 
function showID(myAjax){
    var newVar=String(myAjax.responseText);
    alert(newVar);                       // <----alert shows expected divID
    if (newVar == 'close') {         // <----not evaluated
        alert(newVar);
    }
    else {
        toggle(newVar);               // <----newVar=divID (should)
    }
}
 
function toggle (elid) {
    //var elid="divID";                                         //<-- works this way
    var cdiv = document.getElementById(elid);  //<-- doesn't work
    var pdiv = cdiv.parentNode;
    alert(cdiv.id +" "+ pdiv.id);             //<-- empty without hardcode
}

var myAjax = new Ajax.Request( url, {
method : 'get',
// Try to provide object reference onto this label(pars).
pars : pars, // (OBJECT REFERENCE)?, 

onComplete : showID // How do you pass arguments inside the   showID(args)  function? 
} );

var new Ajax.Request( url, {
method : 'get',
// Try to provide object reference onto this label(pars).
pars, 
onComplete : function() { showID(myAjax); } 
} );

function toggle( elid ) {
   elid = elid.replace(/[\s\n]+/g, "");
   var cdiv = (( document.getElementById ) ? document.getElementsByTagName("*") : (( document.all && !document.getElementById ) ? document.documentElement.all : null ));
 
   var elem = Boolean((((( cdiv ) ? cdiv[ elid ] : undefined )) ? true : false )); 
 
   var pdiv = (( elem ) ?   cdiv[ elid ].parentNode : undefined );
 
   var testMSG = "\n" + (( pdiv ) ? "Element : " + cdiv[ elid ].id + "\nParent Element : " + pdiv.id : "(pdiv) is " + pdiv + "- please verify your element id!");
   alert( testMSG );
}

 print $divID;