President Duterte thinks that Filipino couples should only have up to three children as he cited the need for the government to "expand" to respond to the country's population growth.

Duterte made this statement after he inaugurated the new Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital last week, the leading provider of healthcare and training on reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and pediatric health in the country.

In his "Talk to the People," aired Thursday morning, the President said the government would have a hard time keeping the economy amid the rising population.

"Ang gobyerno kailangan mag-expand (The government has to expand). Because the population is growing and dapat ang ekonomiya (our economy) also must grow with the population rate," he said on May 12.

"Kasi ‘pag wala, mahirap ang... Marami tayo, hindi natin mapigilan eh (Because of not, it will be hard for us-- if there's a lot of us because we can't stop it)," he added.

The President suggested that women undergo ligation after having three kids. Ligation is the clipping, blocking, or removing of a woman's fallopian tubes to prevent the fertilization of eggs by the sperm.

"After one, two, three dapat boundary na (that should be the boundary), even for the young," he said.

"Fundamentally dapat na kung mag-abot talaga ng tatlo, tama na (if you already have three kids, then that's enough)," he added.

However, Duterte admitted that it would be challenging to promote ligation and instead reminded Filipinos to use contraceptives.

"Mahirapan tayong mag-promote ng ligation actually kasi ayaw ng mga husbands ‘yung mga asawa (It will be difficult for us to promote ligation because the husbands don't want it for their wives)," he said.

"And kung ayaw ng ligation, itong pills, birth control. Ako mismo sa opisina ko, ‘yung drawer ko marami (if they don't want ligation, we have pills and birth control. Even me, I have lots of them in my office drawer)," he added.

President Duterte recalled how he used to hand contraceptives to women with four children or more.

"Mahirap magpalaki ng bata at saka ‘yung sitwasyon natin karamihan kasi hindi naman mayaman (It's hard to raise kids and in our situation, a lot of us are not rich). Always looking up at government for everything," he said.