President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday blamed his poor eyesight for his recent erroneous statement that nearly 168 million Filipinos are addicted to narcotics, more than the country's 100-million population.

"I have so many things to read. Ganito iyan, 'yong mata ko, hindi na masyadong maganda," he said in a taped speech aired Tuesday. "I read the 168 ang 1.6 [million], may [decimal] point pala iyon... kaya nagkamali ako sa tao na contaminated."

(My eyesight is not that good anymore. I read as 168 the 1.6 million, there's a decimal point, as it turns out so I made a mistake in the figure of those contaminated by drugs.)

Watch his remark here.

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