History of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Brief History:

The origin of the ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES (AFP) could be traced to the Tejeros Convention in 1897-where the revolutionary government of General Emilio Aguinaldo created the Philippine Army under Captain General Artemio Ricarte. This Army was the off-shoot of the Revolutionary Forces, which took arms against the Spanish Government from August 30, 1896 up to December 10, 1898 when the treaty of Paris was entered into by the United States of America and Spain. The same Army engaged the Americans during the hostilities between the Philippines and the United States which began on the night of February 4, 1899 and lasted up to September 25, 1903 - when the last of Filipino Generals, General Simeon Ola surrendered to the Americans.

After the Filipino-American war, the country's armed forces organized through the promulgation of the National Defense Act in 1935 which created the Philippine Army, with the off-shore patrol a and Army Air Corps as its major components.

The Philippine Constabulary, was then existing under the Department of Interior.

The Philippine Army subsequently became the Armed Forces of the Philippines on December 23, 1950 with four (4) major services namely: Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and the Philippine Constabulary. The country was divided into four military areas. This set-up remained until the early 80's when a major restructuring of the AFP was made as result of the alarming upsurge activities in the country regional unified commands were organized and areas of responsibility were assigned which conformed them to the twelve regional boundaries of the country.