MANILA (UPDATED) — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday called on law enforcement agencies to step up the government's campaign against illegal drugs as he lauded the recent operation that scored the country’s biggest drug haul in a single operation.

READ: Philippines drug war: What changed under President Marcos?

Marcos personally inspected the 1.8-ton shabu haul in Alitagtag town, which is estimated to be worth P13.3 billion in street value.

The drugs were intercepted by police at a checkpoint along the highway in Barangay Pinagkrusan in Batangas on Monday morning as it was being transferred in a closed van.

 In an interview, Marcos said that the seizure and the arrest of one suspect is proof that the administration’s bloodless approach to the drug war is working.

 “I’d also to point out that this is the biggest shipment of shabu na nahuli natin, but, not one person died. Walang namatay. Walang nagputukan, walang nasaktan. Basta’t inoperate natin nang dahan-dahan,” the President said.

(No one died. No shots were fired, no one was hurt. We operated carefully.)

 “Yan naman dapat ang approach, para sa akin, yan ang dapat na approach sa drug war, na ang pinakaimportante is matigil natin ang pag-ship ng mga drugs dito sa pagpasok sa Pilipinas.”

(For me, that should be the approach to the drug war, the most important of which is to stop the shipping of drugs here.)

READ: More Filipinos now in favor of ICC probe of Duterte drug war: SWS poll 

The President earlier said that the administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign has been transformed from the bloody drug war of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to a more preventive and rehabilitative approach.

READ: War on Drugs - The Unheard Voices

According to the Dahas  Project, which tallies drug-related killings, there have been 611 killed in drug operations during the Marcos administration.

The Philippine National Police last month suspended Davao City police officers involved in anti-drug operations that left 7 suspects dead.

Rights group Human Rights Watch said the bloodless raid shows "going after the illicit drug trade can be done without violence, if authorities really do their job and follow due process."

It added that the next challenge for Marcos is to rescind the policies that the Duterte administration put in place for its drug war.

"In junking 'drug war' as state policy, Marcos needs to institutionalize harm reduction as a strategy in dealing with illegal drugs," HRW senior researcher Carlos Conde said.

"Harm reduction puts premium on the rights of people who use drugs. Drug use is a public health issue, as the president himself admitted. It’s time for Mr. Marcos to walk the talk on drug policy reform."

Marcos said the there is no single answer to eradicating the drug problem, but said that authorities need to work hard and focus on addressing the unhampered entry of drugs coming from other countries.

 “We have to operate, we have to gather intelligence, we have to coordinate with Interpol, we have to coordinate with intelligence and drug agencies of other countries around of ASEAN, of Asia, kung saan man nangagaling because this is an international crime,” the President said.

“That’s the situation that we are hoping to achieve. Pero the only way to get back is to continue to prosecute the drug war and but well within the law, so that cases can be filed and the syndicates can be identified, the guilty parties can be arrested and eventually  imprisoned, and that is the point of what we are doing. That’s the only way to approach it. Pahirapan talaga yan.”

Marcos also has this to say to drug syndicates: “Bahala kayo sa ginagawa ninyo basta't tuloy-tuloy lang kami. Aabutan din namin kayo. Maliit lang ang Pilipinas.”

(We will catch you too. The Philippines is only a small country.)

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