MANILA—Opposition lawmakers on Saturday said President Rodrigo Duterte's statement that his only sin was extrajudicial killings should be taken seriously and not as a "joke."

• Duterte: 'EJKs' my only sin

This, after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the President must not be taken seriously when he made the statement.

• Palace: Duterte 'not serious' about statement on EJKs
• Palace reiterates Duterte's EJK sin remark no admission of guilt

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, in a statement, said Duterte's remark is "clear admission of guilt" and that his administration "should stop giving excuses for President Duterte not being serious with what he said or it only being a language barrier."

"In his last State of the Nation Address, he said he cared about human lives more than human rights. His recent statements only prove that the President does not care about his people at all," he said.

"What this administration is doing is further deceiving the Filipino people. We do not want your insensitive, offensive and anti-people 'jokes.' "

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro added there's no time for jokes amid "record high inflation and worsening culture of impunity."

Former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, meanwhile, said Duterte "knows what he's doing."

"It's not for me to agree or disagree. The President knows what he's doing. Having been President, I know he's not . . . he should not be getting so many comments from the peanut gallery," she said on the sidelines of a medical mission in Manila.