President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted he undergoes blood extraction every other day due to his Buerger's disease.

Duterte made the admission in a speech before a gathering of doctors during the opening ceremony of the 7th Union Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City in Pasay City on Tuesday night.

"I am 74 years old, I do not want to die of TB (tuberculosis). I do not want to die of lung cancer. As a matter of fact, I got---I acquired Buerger's disease from smoking," he said.

"That is why my doctor is here. She gets my blood...almost every other day," Duterte added.

Duterte recalled that he stopped smoking when he became mayor of Davao City.

He said when he was a mayor, an ordinance was passed banning smoking in public places in Davao City, which is still being implemented.

"And I said if I catch you smoking in public, you will just have to eat your cigarette. Choose. I'll blow your balls out or you eat your cigarette," he said.

The mayor of Davao City is Duterte's daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio.

There were speculations before that Duterte had cancer. But he denied this. Celerina Monte/DMS