The pilot of the four-seater plane sought permission to land shortly after taking off from Manila airport but the aircraft crashed before it could reach the runway, said Connie Bungag, spokeswoman for the Manila airport.

"All fire stations within eight kilometres (five miles) of the airport have been summoned to help," she told ABS-CBN television, adding that the cause of the crash was not known.

Florencio Bernabe, mayor of Paranaque district where the plane came down, told the station from the scene that an elementary school that was closed for the weekend and several houses had been set alight.

I can see the school building on fire," he told the station.

Both said they had no immediate reports of casualties.