By Genalyn Kabiling

The country might end up like a Mexico controlled by drug cartels if the government will not finish off the drug traffickers and their cohorts, President Duterte declared last Sunday.

The President admitted the country’s drug situation has “worsened,” while the police may already be “at the brink of surrendering” following the recent shipments of illegal drugs being smuggled in the country.

“You can see the headlines — every day billions worth of drugs are entering the country. Look at the main screen and the crawler, the running news at the bottom. It’s always about drugs, drugs, and drugs,” he said during his visit to Cagayan de Oro City last Sunday.

“In the end, we will be like Mexico. We will be controlled by drug cartels. The Sinaloa has already entered the country and that is why drugs are being thrown in the Pacific. The same is happening in the West,” he added.

Duterte noted that the drug shipment worth P1 billion recently seized by authorities was probably just a diversion by the traffickers. He said there might be probably other drug shipments being smuggled into the country amid its porous borders.

“Things have worsened. My policemen are at the brink of surrendering. Everyday — don’t believe that it’s one billion. The next day there will be another 1. 3 billion. That’s just an excuse. That’s a bait,” he said.

“Actually there are other billions coming in. The Philippines is contiguous, island for island. There are seven thousand islands. Just choose where you want to land,” he said.

The President has renewed his resolve to combat the illegal drug trade, saying he will not allow the drug traffickers to destroy the nation. “If you destroy my country, I will kill you. You can be sure of that,” he warned.

He maintained that the war on drugs would continue despite criticisms about alleged abuses from some groups. “When I became President, I said I don’t give a sh*t about human rights,” he said.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) recently seized P1.8-billion worth of shabu at the Manila port. The illegal drugs wrapped inside tea packages reportedly came from Vietnam.

Authorities earlier raided a shabu laboratory in Alabang, Muntinlupa and seized 148 kilograms of shabu worth P1.1 billion.