Duterte: I advised the Navy to blow up drug smugglers' vessels

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he has advised the Philippine Navy to blast vessels of drug smugglers, together with their passengers using the seas for their illegal trade.

At a campaign rally in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Duterte made speculations that floating cocaine packages recently discovered on Philippine shores or floating in waters in some parts of the country are the handiwork of drug lords.

"Ang cocaine ‘yan ang ginagawa ng mga mayayaman. Mahal 'yan. May duda kami kung bakit dumami pero ang sabi ko sa Navy basta smuggler pasabugin ninyo pati mga tao,"  Duterte said.

"Huwag na lang kayo magsalita, ibulong niyo lang sa akin na mayroon kayong pinasabog na bangka at barko at kung ano pa, lantsa ng mga durugista," he added.

Some 40 bricks of suspected cocaine were recently found floating off the coast of the Burgos town in Siargao group of islands in Caraga region.

A lawmaker has asked the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to deploy at least one vessel in waters off Surigao Del Norte to prevent dumping of millions of pesos worth of cocaine in the area.

Surigao Del Norte Representative Jose Francisco Matugas had said the 40 bricks of cocaine found in the province's waters were the second batch of floating illegal drugs recovered in less than two months. —Margaret Claire Layug/LBG, GMA News