Manila - Philippine Catholic bishops appealed on Thursday to people to donate money to help victims of a deadly cyclone that killed an estimated 100,000 people in Myanmar.

Monsignor Roberto Canlas, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Manila, instructed all priests in Manila to collect donations for the victims of the cyclone during their masses starting on May 25.

Canlas instructed priests to immediately remit their collections to the treasury department of the archdiocese so these can be sent immediately to authorities in Myanmar.

"Let us continue to pray for our suffering brothers and sisters in Myanmar," he said.

Manila Auxilliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo appealed to church goers to be generous to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

"Let us do whatever we can to help," he said. "I think it's best if we give cash donations because we do not know yet what kind of goods they need," he added.

The Philippines is the largest Catholic country in Asia, with more than 80 per cent of its 88.6 million people professing to the Catholic faith.

International aid agencies estimate that up to 2 million people in Myanmar are desperately in need of food, water, shelter and medicine after the disaster, deemed the worst to hit South-East Asia since the December 2004 tsunami. (dpa)