DAVAO CITY - President-elect Rodrigo Duterte once joked about severing jeepney barker Julie Sumaliday's penis to underscore his support for birth control, an advocacy that could place him on a collision course with the Roman Catholic Church.

Duterte stressed the need to address "overpopulation" during the campaign and his 10-point plan to grow the economy includes providing free contraceptives for the poor, which comprise one-fourth of the country's 100 million population.

"Kung meron lang ito nung mga panahon na iyon, hindi dumami ang anak namin. Eh nalaman namin ngayon na marami na kaming anak," the 41-year-old Sumaliday told ABS-CBN News.

Sumaliday and his unemployed wife originally had 11 children, but a 14-year-old son died of meningitis two years ago while a daughter died two months after birth in 2010.

Two of Sumaliday’s nine children, aged four and six, are not going to school this year. His eldest, aged 22, works at a construction site to help the family make ends meet.

Duterte admonished Sumaliday during a visit to one of this city's slums last month, shortly after he won the May 9 elections.

“Nagalit ako kasi may nangangak doon 10 na ang anak, sabi ko ibalik ko talaga ang family planning. It will do us good. Ako naman I said, I’m a Christian but I’m a realist. We have to do something about our overpopulation,” Duterte said at the time.

Sumaliday said he thought Duterte meant to ask him to get a vasectomy instead of having his penis cut off.

Duterte's predecessor, President Benigno Aquino III, defied the Church by pushing for a law that will provide free contraceptives for the poor.

Earning just P400 per day, Sumaliday admitted that he struggles to put food on the table everyday. With his huge family cramped in a tiny space, he is forced to sleep on a hammock.

Free electricity from the city government is a big help, he said.

After giving birth 11 times, it was only recently that Sumaliday's wife got a birth control implant and coupled with tracking her menstrual cycle, the couple hopes she would no longer get pregnant.

“Ang anak ko ngayon, four years na ‘di pa nasusundan, so 'yun na ang aming ginagawa ngayon para di ma madagdagan ang anak namin,” he said.