President Rodrigo Duterte's remark that he would offer 42 virgins to those who visit the Philippines was clearly a joke, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Sunday said.

"That was clearly said in jest. There's no need to clarify what was really a joke made by the President," Roque said in a press briefing during the sidelines of the Dinagyang Festival.

"I'm sure it was said in jest," he added.

Duterte, on Friday, made the statement while mocking ISIS' supposed recruitment line that their followers would enjoy virgins in heaven if they get killed.

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"It is an ideology that is totally bankrupt, totally empty and the only objective there is to kill and destroy for nothing, for no reason at all," Duterte said before a Filipino-organized business forum in New Delhi, India.

"And the come-on is if you die a martyr, you will go to heaven with 42 virgins waiting for you. If I could just make it a come-on also for those who would like to go to my country. I'd like to have the virgins here, not in heaven. God may not allow it," he added. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News