MANILA (PNA) — “The war against Illegal Drugs is far from over.”

President Duterte began his third and shortest State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), vowing that his administration’s drug war will be “as relentless and chilling” as it was the day it began.

“Let me begin by putting it bluntly: the war against illegal drugs is far from over. Where before the war resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs worth millions of pesos, today, they run [into] billions in peso value,” Duterte said in the House of Representatives at the Batasang Pambansa complex.

Duterte said he could only “shudder” at the harm that illegal drugs have caused Filipinos throughout the country, noting that this was the very reason why the drug war will not be set aside.

“Instead, it will be as relentless and chilling, if you will, as on the day it began,” he said.

He said drug dealers know the consequences of their criminal acts but still resisted arrest. At the same time, he also hit human rights advocates and church leaders for criticizing his drug war.

Despite the protests against the drug war, Duterte said these could not dissuade him from continuing his fight against shabu, cocaine, cannabis, heroine, and other illegal drugs.

“If you think that I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight because of [your] demonstrations, your protests, which I find, by the way, misdirected, then you got it all wrong.

“Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives. You worry about the present; I am concerned [about] both the present and the future. I worry about the future because I know what crimes can do to the youth of this country. If not stopped, crimes can make human cesspools of succeeding generations. I will not allow it to happen. Not during my term,” Duterte said.

Duterte renewed his vow to end corruption within government describing it as “a leech that it bleeds the government of funds programmed for its infrastructure and other social development projects.”

The President acknowledged that he dismissed several government officials including friends and political supporters, adding that although he valued friendships, “it has its limits.”

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