The discoloration of his face was brought by a trip to Jordan and the side effects of using a whitening cream, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday.
In his speech during the 44th Philippine Business Conference and Expo, Duterte said that the darkening of his skin was a result of sunburn from prolonged exposure to the heat during his trip to Jordan and from a series of visits to military camps in the country.
“When I went to Jordan my skin was already burnt. I go to military camps every week. I go to the farthest camps in the field,” he said, adding the condition of his skin got worse after he applied a whitening cream used by his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña.
“I used the cream which my wife uses. She said there are 1,2,3,4 steps… It’s my first time to see a medicine that’s like a rocket; it has a booster. It worked well on my wife, but when I tried it, my skin got darker,” he added.
The President said that he had consulted a skin specialist about the discoloration, who recommended to only use specific skin care products suitable for his skin type.