Manila, Nov 17 (IANS): The Philippines has despatched thousands of soldiers to augment its police force in securing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit to be held in Manila on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We are performing our jobs as correctly as possible, and as professionally as we can," Xinhua quoted Restituto Padilla, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as saying on Tuesday.
Carlito Galvez, AFP deputy chief of staff for operations, said the soldiers were ordered to be "prepared for everything", including a possible attack similar to last Friday's terror strikes in Paris which left at least 129 people dead.
According to Galvez, the military preparation has tripled or quadrupled compared to its preparation for Pope Francis' visit in January this year.
The Philippines raised security alert to the highest level immediately after the Paris terrorist attacks.