President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday witnessed the destruction of over P9.4 billion worth of seized illegal drugs, led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), following his directive for full transparency in the country’s anti-narcotics operations.

The incineration took place at Clean Leaf International Corporation, with media present at Marcos’ invitation to observe the process.

“We need to make sure that the drugs that are seized are actually destroyed and there is no hope of them coming back, of being sold, of being recovered, of being reported. And we know what other incidents we are seeing,” the President said.

“That is why I am here today just to see how the system works — para very, very solid ‘yung system natin from the capture of the illegal drugs, all the way until the destruction,” he added.

Before the President’s arrival, authorities from PDEA, the Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Coast Guard loaded various narcotics — including floating shabu recovered by fisherfolk in Northern Luzon — onto the facility for incineration.

The substances were verified for authenticity before being destroyed.

Among the illegal drugs that were destroyed include 1,387.5554 kilograms of shabu; 411.3708 mL of liquid shabu; 138.8177 kilograms of marijuana; 0.1230 kilogram of MDMA or ecstasy; 3,917.4099 grams of cocaine; 232.6 grams of toluene; 0.8020 gram of lidocaine; and assorted surrendered expired medicines.

Marcos personally ignited the machine, which will burn for 10 hours at 700°C. Another 12 hours is required for the system to cool down before verification of full incineration.

“After it burns at 700 degrees Celsius, it will not be shabu anymore, it will not be marijuana anymore, it will not be any drug anymore. It’ll be completely ruined. So, that’s what we are here to witness,” he said.

If traces of the substances remain, the incineration will be repeated until the process is fully completed, he added.

“I’m glad that the press is here so they can see what the process is. I am also happy that I was able to get the opportunity to come here to see the whole system from the capture, all the way until its destruction,” Marcos said.