MANILA, Philippines -- The military has deployed another Marine battalion to the southwest, as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's 2010 deadline to crush extremist groups there nears, officials said.

The Marine Battalion Landing Team 9 was plucked from Palawan province and sent to the area of Naval Forces Western Mindanao, which has jurisdiction over the provinces of Tawi-tawi, Zamboanga, Sulu and Basilan, said Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo.

This brings to eight the number of Marine battalions in the region. Arevalo did not give a specific number but a battalion is composed of around 600 troops.

The al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and their cohorts from the Southeast Asian group Jemaah Islamiyah operate in the area.

The Navy also deployed a patrol ship, BRP Magat Salamat and three multi-purpose attack crafts to the area, he said.

The attack crafts can cruise at a top speed of up to 40 knots and are armed with 50-caliber machine guns. They can load up to 20 fully-armed troops, he said.

“The deployment of the 8th Marine Battalion and our floating assets to their respective areas of responsibility is in response to the requirements of higher headquarters to address the need for increased tempo of operations in the operational area,” said Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez, Flag Officer-in-Command of the Philippine Navy.

Fresh from retraining, the MBLT-8 will replace the MBLT-9 in Palawan, where the BRP Nestor Reinoso was also deployed, Arevalo said.