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The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) has alerted local government units (LGUs) in eastern and western seaboards of the country as a strong typhoon with the international name of Mawar is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility this weekend.

Assistant Secretary Raffy Alejandro IV, OCD spokesman said as part of their preparations the OCD and its regional offices are monitoring the situation and coordinating with concerned National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council member agencies in the areas that might be affected by the weather disturbance.

"Initially alerted LGUs located in the eastern seaboard of the country as the Mawar will be coming from the eastern side of the country, however, we are now also alerting LGUs on the western seaboard as the Tropical Cyclone will also intensify and pull Southwest Monsoon that will cause strong winds and rains," he said.

Allejandro said the pre-disaster risk assessment with science agencies will also be conducted "to determine LGUs susceptible to the effects of the Tropical Cyclone and determine subsequently their prescribed alert level and corresponding response protocol."

He said the responders and rescue teams were placed on alert and standby while stockpiling and prepositioning of relief goods and other items were also part of the ongoing preparations.

As of 1 pm, Chris Perez, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) assistant weather services chief said Mawar which will be called "Betty" once it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility was last spotted at 2,305 kilometers east of Visayas with maximum sustained winds of 175 km per hour and gustiness of up to 215 kph while moving north northwest at the speed of 10 kph.

Mawar may reintensity into a super typhoon once it enters PAR, said Pagasa.

Obet Badrina, Pagasa weather specialist said once it enters PAR on Friday or Saturday, Betty is expected to re-curve and move towards Taiwan. then Japan.

"For now there is a small chance that it will (make) landfall in the Philippines but we are monitoring the possibility that it may trigger or strengthen the southwest monsoon," he said.

"There is a possibility that by Sunday or Monday next week there will be rain in western section of Luzon, Visayas up to Mindanao," he added.

Although Betty is not expected to landfall in any part of the country, the state weather forecaster noted that the outermost periphery of the tropical cyclone may still bring light to moderate to occasionally heavy rains to the extreme part of northern Luzon which includes the provinces of Batanes, some parts of Cagayan and northern part of Ilocos. Robina Asido/DMS