The national weather bureau said tropical cyclone wind alerts were issued for several provinces in the Bicol and Calabarzon regions.
Sea travel operations were cancelled in the Calabarzon region, with 662 people reportedly stranded at ports due to strong winds, according to the disaster monitoring agency.
In the Bicol provinces, a total of 532 families, or 1,789 people, were preemptively evacuated to temporary shelters, it said.
Molave follows tropical storm Saudel, which last week caused widespread flooding in Quezon province in the Calabarzon region, southeast of the capital Manila.
After crossing the Philippine archipelago, Molave is expected to continue intensifying over the East Sea, possibly reaching typhoon category by October 27 evening./.
VNA
