MANILA, Philippines--(UPDATE 2) Typhoon "Frank" (international codename: Fengshen) weakened slightly, and changed its track further northwest towards Manila Bay, the chief of the state weather bureau said late Saturday evening.

While the storm was unlikely to directly hit Metro Manila, public storm signal number 3 was nonetheless raised in the capital, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Director Pricso Nilo said in a phone interview.

The storm would hit the mouth of Manila Bay, some 50 to 100 kilometers away from the mainland, or the Bondoc Peninsula, before dawn on Sunday, before exiting through Zambales province in eastern Central Luzon, Nilo said.

The weakening of a high pressure area near Taiwan caused "Frank" to change course, he said.

At 10 p.m., the eye of the storm, which packs maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour near the center, was located 70 kilometers southeast of Calapan City.

"The NDCC [National Disaster Coordinating Council] saw it fit to give the warning as early as now so that the public will not be caught off guard by the strong winds," NDCC Executive Director Anthony Golez told radio dzMM.

Both Nilo and Golez said that the storm's effects would begin to be felt in Metro Manila at around 5 a.m.

The NDCC confirmed three deaths due to the storm, including an eight-year-old girl and her 56-year-old grandfather, who were buried by a "trash slide" at a garbage dump in Cotabato City. Four others were missing.

Capiz province has been without power since 10 a.m. Friday, while power outages were reported in Iloilo City since 12 midnight Friday, the NDCC said.

The storm has affected 200,055 people across the Visayas, Mindanao, and southern Luzon, of which, 16,118 are in evacuation centers.

Aside from Metro Manila, signal number 3 (100-185 kilometer per hour winds) was also raised in the Mindoro provinces, Lubang Island, Marinduque, Romblon, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Bataan, and the Bondoc Peninsula.

Signal number 2 (60-100 kilometer per hour winds) was raised in the Calamian Group of Islands, Burias Island, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, the rest of Quezon, Polilio Island, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Zambales, and northern Aurora.

Signal number 1 (30-60 kilometer per hour winds), was raised in northern Palawan, Masbate, Ticao Island, Albay, the rest of Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, and Sorsogon.

Moving northwest at 15 kilometers per hour, the storm was forecast to be in the vicinity of Iba town, Zambales or 160 kilometers northwest of Metro Manila by Sunday evening, 170 kilometers west northwest of Laoag City in Ilocos Norte province by Monday evening and 320 kilometers west northwest of Basco town, Batanes province by Tuesday evening.