President Benigno Aquino hopes the trial over the Philippines' worst political massacre can be speeded up, his spokeswoman said on Saturday, the fourth anniversary of the murder of 58 people which shocked the world.

Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said the president had done what he could without interfering in judicial proceedings over the November 23, 2009 mass killing in the southern island of Mindanao.

The number of people dead or missing after one of the world's strongest typhoons struck the Philippines climbed towards 7,000 on Saturday, as the United Nations warned much more needed to be done to help desperate survivors.

The government's confirmed death toll rose to 5,235, with another 1,613 people still missing more than two weeks after Super Typhoon Haiyan destroyed entire towns across a long stretch of islands in the central Philippines.

Nearly half of the detainees who escaped from a flooded jail at the height of Super Typhoon Haiyan have returned, many after helping their families deal with the storm's aftermath.

There were nearly 600 detainees at the Leyte Provincial Jail when the typhoon, one of the strongest ever to make landfall, flattened dozens of towns across the islands of Leyte and Samar on November 8.

The number of people confirmed killed when a super typhoon devastated the Philippines surpassed 5,200 on Friday, the government said, making it one of the country's deadliest natural disasters.

The official death toll from the storm jumped by nearly 1,200 to 5,209, with another 1,611 people still missing, the spokesman for the government's disaster management council, Reynaldo Balido, told Agence France Presse.

Pope Francis prayed Thursday for the victims of the typhoon-ravaged Philippines at a ceremony to mark the unveiling of a mosaic image of the country's youngest saint in St. Peter's Basilica.

The ceremony was attended by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila, who helped coordinate aid efforts after the storm, which left around 5,500 people dead or missing and 4.4 million homeless.

Interpol said Tuesday it had sent experts to the Philippines to help identify victims of the deadly typhoon that killed thousands and left up to four million displaced.

The experts are drawn from Canada, South Africa and the International Commission on Missing Persons, and include DNA and computer specialists, the Lyon-based organisation said in a statement.

Hong Kong's Filipino domestic workers made emotional pleas Sunday to citizens of the wealthy city to give generously to their typhoon-ravaged homeland, as hundreds attended memorial services to seek comfort in prayer.

In the city's Central district, where thousands of Filipino maids gather on their only rest day, calls for money and goods were made over loudspeakers while some began singing "Amazing Grace".

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said Saturday a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines was an example of climate change and should serve as a warning to mankind.

Ban was speaking at the Tallin University in Estonia on a tour of several Baltic states before joining a second week of climate talks in Poland.

Several British nationals are missing following the typhoon that has killed thousands in the Philippines, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Saturday.

"The foreign secretary confirmed that a number of British nationals remained unaccounted for," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Japan will send almost 1,200 troops to join relief efforts in the typhoon-ravaged Philippines along with three warships, 10 planes and six helicopters, in the single largest aid deployment by the country's military.

About 1,170 members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) will provide medical support and quarantine services, and transport relief goods, the ministry said in a statement posted on Friday.