MANILA, Philippines – All tropical cyclones that form within or enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) are given local names.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) alternately uses four regular sets of local names. Each regular set has 25 names, arranged alphabetically.
There is also a corresponding auxiliary set for each regular set, with 10 names each, in case there are more than 25 tropical cyclones in a particular year.
Here are the regular and auxiliary sets for 2025:
The sets above will also be used in 2029, 2033, 2037, and so on, except for names that PAGASA will be retiring.
When a tropical cyclone causes at least 300 deaths and/or P1 billion worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure, its name will be retired. The retired name will then be replaced by another name starting with the same letter.
For the 2025 set, the new names are Jacinto, Mirasol, and Opong. They replaced 2021’s Typhoon Jolina (Conson), Severe Tropical Storm Maring (Kompasu), and Typhoon Odette (Rai), respectively.
Meanwhile, international names for tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea are assigned by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center Tokyo-Typhoon Center, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The international names come from a list contributed to by several countries, including the Philippines.
It did happen in 2024, though, that a tropical cyclone outside PAR was still given a local name — Tropical Depression Romina — because it affected Kalayaan Islands in the West Philippine Sea. The island group is part of the province of Palawan but located outside PAR. – Acor Arceo/Rappler.com