(Recasts with army on alert as typhoon gains strength) MANILA, June 20 (Reuters) - The Philippines placed army units on alert on Friday as Typhoon Fengshen swept into the centre of the archipelago with gusts of up to 140 kph (87 mph). Fengshen, the sixth typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country this year, was expected to dump rains over the Philippines' eastern islands before heading back out into the Pacific Ocean south of Okinawa, local weather forecasters said. The central government put the military on standby to help in case of flash floods and landslides. Nine provinces were put on alert to stockpile medicines, food and fuel and to stop small ferries from leaving ports. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was forced to cancel a trip to the central Philippines due to the typhoon. Around 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, triggering flooding and mass evacuations. Environmental groups blame illegal logging for making flooding worse, particularly in the central Philippines, where more than 5,000 people were killed in 1991 by flood waters triggered by a typhoon. In February 2006, around 1,000 people were buried alive when a mudslide from a barren mountain submerged a farming village on a central island. (Reporting by Manny Mogato and Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Valerie Lee)
A boy walks past rice for sale at a market in Manila April 24, 2008. Philippines will take almost all the rice offered in a tender last week that fell one-third ...
