President Aquino warned people to leave high-risk areas, including coastal communities where forecasters said a storm surge could reach up to 7m (23ft).
Typhoon Haiyan, the world's strongest storm of the year, has made landfall in the Philippines with winds of up to 235 km/h (146mph).
The category-five storm was centred 62 km south-east of Guiuan, in the country's Eastern Samar province, the national weather service said .
Schools and offices have been closed in the region and thousands of people were evacuated amid fears of serious damage.
The storm is not expected to directly hit the capital Manila, further north.
"There will be catastrophic damage," said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground, told the Associated Press news agency.
Relief packagesThe typhoon, known locally as Yolanda, is forecast to move over to the South China Sea north of Palawan Island on Saturday, meteorologists say.
In its path are areas already struggling to recover from a 7.3-magnitude earthquake last month, including the worst-hit island of Bohol.
About 5,000 people are still living in tents in Bohol after losing their homes in the quake, which killed more than 200 people.
The military says it is transporting food packages and relief goods to remote communities, and has helicopters on stand-by. Ferry operations have already been suspended and fishing boats ordered back to port.
Thousands of people from villages at risk across several provinces have been evacuated, while schools and offices have shut.
Billboards were taken down in Makati, near Manila, ahead of the storm
Thousands of people were evacuated from villages in the central Philippines before the arrival of the storm
The president ordered officials to aim for zero casualties, a goal not often met in an archipelago lashed by at least 20 tropical storms each year
President Benigno Aquino warned people to leave storm-prone areas and urged seafarers to stay in port.
He reassured the public that cargo planes and military helicopters were on standby, along with 20 navy ships.
"No typhoon can bring Filipinos to their knees if we'll be united," he said in a televised address.
Ben Evardone, a member of Congress from Eastern Samar, said earlier he had "issued a call to prepare for the worst".
Meteorologists in the Philippines warned that Haiyan could be as devastating as Typhoon Bopha in 2012.
Bopha devastated parts of the southern Philippines, leaving at least 1,000 people dead and causing more than $1bn (£620m) in damage.
"This is a very dangerous typhoon, local officials know where the vulnerable areas are and have given instructions on evacuations," state weather forecaster Glaiza Escullar told AFP.
"There are not too many mountains on its path to deflect the force of impact, making it more dangerous."
It is the 25th typhoon to enter Philippine territory this year.
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