Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (MANILA BULLETIN)

Are the dozens of packets of illegal drugs found along the coastline of the Ilocos region part of a plan to discredit President Marcos' administration? 

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers says this is possible. 

The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chairman laid out his theory during a recent interview with House reporters. 

"Pwede rin na ito ay parang propaganda, no? To create an image na kung saan nakikita ito, eh talamak...at alam naman natin na posibleng ang target dito ay yung ating Pangulo," Barbers said. 

(It's possible that this is like a propaganda, right? To create an image that this is rampant...and we know that the possible target here is our President.) 

President Marcos is nearing the halfway mark of his six-year tenure. He hails from Ilocos Norte. 

According to authorities in Ilocos, at least 79 packers containing illegal drugs have been discovered floating in local waters since Monday last week. 

Barbers said another possibility was that the discovered drugs in the Ilocos region were meant to divert public attention from the massive drug confiscations that have taken place elsewhere in the country. 

"Posibleng sinasadya, no? Na ilaglag yan dyan, diversionary [tactic] (It's possible that it's planted, a diversionary tactic)," said the Nacionalista Party (NP) stalwart.