A typhoon that has killed hundreds of people and left tens of thousands homeless in the southern Philippines has turned back towards the country and will hit it again.

Weather forecasters said Typhoon Bopha will slam into the northern tip of the main island of Luzon on Sunday, packing gusts of up to 160 kilometres per hour, the state weather service said.

The powerful typhoon lashed the country's south earlier in the week, killing more than 500 people.

Civil defence office director Benito Ramos said it was likely to bring heavy rainfall to the area.

"People there need to take precautions," he added.

The eye of the cyclone was 230 kilometres west of the northern town of Sinait on Saturday afternoon (local time) and moving slowly northeast, the service said.

Heavy to intense rainfall was expected within the typhoon's 400-kilometre footprint.

Earlier a state of national calamity was declared in the wake of devastation caused by the storm system.

President Benigno Aquino says the state of national calamity will speed up the release of funds for rescue and retrieval operations as well as repairing damaged infrastructure in more than 20 provinces.

Under a state of national calamity, a price freeze on commodities is imposed and interest free loans are granted for affected cities and provinces.

Mr Aquino previously allocated $US200 million and is hoping to release additional funds.

Damage to infrastructure and agriculture is estimated at almost $US100 million.

Rescue officials say at least 540 people have been confirmed dead in the Philippines following the deadly typhoon.

Regional military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lyndon Paniza told AFP the region's armed forces had retrieved 506 bodies on the east coast of the southern island of Mindanao and around the southern town of New Bataan.

The civil defence office in Manila said 23 other people were killed elsewhere in Mindanao, along with 11 in the central Visayan islands.

The government agency said 383 people remained missing while the number of survivors who have sought refuge at government shelters has grown to more than 306,000.

Social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman said people who had lost their homes and livelihoods were flocking in droves to the crowded camps for food and shelter.

ABC/AFP