At least 70 people are missing after a ferry sank in the waters off the central Philippines in bad weather on Saturday night, the government's civil defense office said.

The Maharlika II ferry, carrying at least 84 people went down off the central island of Leyte with only 14 people rescued so far by other boats said Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council

"Rescue boats had trouble reaching them because the waves were really huge," she told AFP.

The coast guard and private vessels are still in the area, Marasigan said, adding there are hopes more people will be rescued in the coming hours.

The ferry had reported "problems with steering" and had also been buffeted by heavy rains, worsened by Typhoon Kalmaegi which is approaching the northern Philippines, she said.

A coast guard report said that the vessel went down about six nautical miles from the small island of Panaon or about 420 miles south of Manila.

Although only 84 passengers and crew were listed on the manifest, it is common practice in the Philippines for some passengers to board such ferries without being listed.

Poorly-maintained, loosely-regulated ferries are the backbone of maritime travel in the sprawling archipelago.

But this has led to frequent accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years including the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster in 1987 when the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead.