‘Just a joke,’ Roque says of Duterte’s remark about ‘42 virgins’ | Inquirer

‘Just a joke,’ Roque says of Duterte’s remark about ‘42 virgins’

By: - Reporter /
/ 10:27 PM January 28, 2018

ILOILO CITY — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque dismissed as “a joke” President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement before Indian businessmen that he would make virgins a “come-on” to foreign investors and visitors to the Philippines.

“That was clearly said in jest. There’s no need to clarify what was really a joke made by the President. If you don’t mind!” Roque said after being asked to comment in a press briefing on Sunday on the sidelines of the Dinagyang Festival.

Duterte made the statement made during his visit to India last week.

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“It must have been said in joke. I’m sure it was said in jest. So it’s not just right, I am sure it was a joke. Come on,” Roque said when pressed further.

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The President made the statement in relation to his criticisms against the Islamic State’s ideology.

“And the come-on is that if you die a martyr, you go to heaven with 42 virgins waiting for you…Well, if I could just make it a come-on also for those who would like to go to my country,” the President had said.

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The President drew criticisms from women and other groups in the country and internationally over a statement he made during the campaign period in 2016 on the rape of an Australian lay missionary during a hostage crisis in 1989 at a jail in Davao City.

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Jacqueline Hamill was among the four hostages who died in the two-day hostage drama when government forces attacked the prison cell and killed the hostage killers.

“Son of a bitch, what a waste. I was thinking that they raped her and lined up. I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first, what a waste,” the President said during his campaign. /atm

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TAGS: 42 virgins, Harry Roque, Rodrigo Duterte

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