After almost 10 years battling lawless elements in Mindanao, members of Marine Battalion Landing Team 5 (MBLT5) arrived at Headquarters Philippine Navy on July 22 for retraining and refurbishing.
As a fitting tribute and recognition to their various accomplishments, an arrival ceremony headed by no less than the Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Jesus C Millan was rendered to welcome the troops.
The troops were deployed in Sulu on 2004 under the command of then Lt. Col. Romeo T Tanalgo who is now a Major General and the present Commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC).
The deployment was intended to augment the AFP units in Sulu to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Misuari Breakaway Group and other threat groups operating in Sulu area.
After 7 years of deployment in Sulu, MBLT5 moved to Tawi-Tawi province. The troops are presently under the Command of Lt. Col. Romel P Recinto.
In the field of military operations, the troops conducted various large scale/small scale combat missions and intelligence/counter intelligence operations which resulted to neutralization and capture of several ASG members and other terrorist groups and recovery of high powered weapons.
During the participation in the pacification of hostilities in Sabah Crisis, the unit apprehended 38 members of Kiram’s Royal Sultanate Forces (RSF) and facilitated the return of 2,854 Filipino deportees affected by the crisis.
On campaign against transnational crimes, the unit scored several apprehensions against smuggling, human trafficking, illegal logging, and illegal fishing.