President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he told the Philippine Navy to blast the ships of alleged smugglers going around and leaving illegal drugs floating in Philippine waters.

During his speech in Malaybalay City, Duterte said they suspect blocks of cocaine found floating in the eastern seaboard are from drug smugglers.

“Why there is a lot (of cocaine)? Now we have a suspicion but I told the Navy that if they think those are smugglers, just blast their vessels including the people,” he said.

Duterte told them to be quiet in following his order as drug smugglers won’t change even if they surrender.

“Just be quiet. If you blast a boat or a ship of drug smugglers, whisper it to me,” said Duterte.

“If it’s a vessel of a drug smuggler, don’t wait for the next day, blast it there,” he added.

According to the Philippine National Police, they were able to recover P 1.1 billion worth of cocaine since February.

In a statement last Tuesday, Police Col. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, said the total gross haul of cocaine is 217.3 kilograms with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P1.150 billion since February.

This followed the recovery of around 40 bricks of suspected cocaine worth P257.4 million by fishermen in the waters of Burgos, Surigao del Norte last Sunday. Ella Dionisio/DMS