President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday the Maute terrorist group was producing illegal drugs to fund its activities.

"In Mindanao, the terrorism there is caused by the Maute (group). You better watch out for this. They are driven by shabu," Duterte said in a speech in Camarines Sur where he led the distribution of relief goods for families affected by typhoon Nina.

"So the fund they use for their wars was really producing shabu and (they) throw it everywhere in the Philippines. That's why we are in a bind," Duterte said.

The Maute group has pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror organization.

The government troops have been pursuing the group, especially after its members occupied an abandoned municipal hall in Lanao del Sur for nearly a week recently.

Duterte, who declared a war on illegal drugs, also said if he was in Metro Manila when the one of the country’s biggest narcotics raids in San Juan City took place last week, he could have killed the suspects.

"Like the shabu (den) in San Juan, they were fortunate that I was not in Manila. With that bulk of shabu in a house, I would surely kill you. Let's not do a drama. I, myself, would be the one to shoot (the suspects) if no one would do it," Duterte said.

In a raid last Friday, 560 kilograms of methamphetamine or shabu with an estimated value of P3.35 billion were confiscated in a house in Barangay Little Baguio in San Juan.

Several Chinese nationals and Filipinos were arrested.

Duterte reiterated that he would not stop until the last pusher is out of the streets and the last drug lord is killed. Celerina Monte/DMS