Marine battalion to be deployed to Sulu

MANILA, Philippines — A battalion of the Philippine Marines is up for deployment to the island province of Sulu after undergoing months of retraining in Manila.

The Marine Battalion Landing Team-8 was previously deployed in Cagayan before the retraining that lasted for nine months.

“We have 12 battalions and then they go into a rotational basis na pumunta dito sa Manila to have their retraining… We build ‘yung mga skill set na kailangan ng individual marine and then we will come up with team training,” said Captain Felix Serapio, public affairs chief of the Philippine Marine Corps.

The MBLT-8 will be part of the Philippine Marine Ready Force in Sulu.

“Sa ngayon, ang ginawa pa lang ay dineclare na operational ready na sila. ‘Yung higher command ng Navy ang magsasabi kung kailan, with coordination sa higher headquarters ng GHQ (General Headquarters) kung kailan sila ipapadala,” Serapio said.

The Philippine Army recently deployed a brigade of soldiers or almost 2,000 troops to intensify the focused operations against the Abu Sayyaf. (Editor: Julie Espinosa)