"Our rescue workers, using bare hands, pulled out five bodies under tonnes of mud and rain water," Golez told reporters.

He added that emergency teams were searching for four more people believed to be buried by a mudslide that thundered through houses on the slopes of the Cordillera mountains in Ifugao province on Saturday.

"One resident was also brought to a nearby hospital after he was found half-buried in mud and rainwater."

With winds of up to 55 kilometres (34 miles) per hour, Lekima has moved onto the South China Sea and was estimated to be 670 km (416 miles) west of Zambales in northwestern Philippines by Monday, and moving westwards at 19 kilometres per hour towards the coast of Vietnam.

On Saturday, Lekima weakened after making landfall on the main Luzon island, but brought heavy rains to the country.

The weather bureau has lowered all storm alerts, but advised people in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes to take extra caution against flashfloods and landslides.