MANILA, Oct. 3 -- The Philippine Army (PA) on Friday placed its humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) units on high alert in anticipation of Severe Tropical Storm Paolo (international name Matmo) and its possible effects.

In a statement, PA spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said they have 338 disaster response teams composed of 2,959 soldiers, reservists and Cafgu Active Auxiliary (CAA) members ready for possible deployment

Aside from these units, Dema-ala said Joint Task Group (JTG) "Kaugnay" also has 71 dedicated HADR teams on standby with 772 soldiers, reservists and CAAs situated across Aurora, Tarlac, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Olongapo and Bataan.

Additional 197 teams from Joint Task Forces "Tala," "V...