This is a brief history of the Philippine Army.

1. THE PHILIPPINE ARMY HISTORY
The Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521 marked the first organized resistance of
the Filipinos against foreign invaders. Lapu-Lapu, a chieftain of Mactan Island,
defeated Spanish colonizer Ferdinand Magellan.
Years of Spanish rule, which dragged on to almost three centuries made the
Filipinos restive. They were soon clamoring for reforms and an end to oppressive
friar rule. In 1896, Andres Bonifacio founded the Katipunan to prepare his band
of freedom loving Filipinos for armed revolt. The Katipunan formed the nucleus of
the Revolutionary Philippine Army.
Almost a year after the outbreak of hostilities between the Katipuneros and the
Spanish troops, the Philippine Revolutionary Government and its Army were born
on March 22, 1897 at Tejeros, San Francisco de Malabon in Cavite. General
Artemio Ricarte was named Captain General of the Ejercito en la Republica de
las Islas Filipinas or the revolutionary Philippine Army. This date marks the
founding day of the modern day Philippine Army.
On June 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine Independence
from Spain and formed the first Philippine Republic, in which he sat as its
President. The Filipino troops were to enjoy only a brief respite from combat
when American forces came in to establish rule in the islands by virtue of
theTreaty of Paris, which Spain co-signed with America on 10 December 1898.
The treaty ceded the Philippines to the United States.
On February 4, 1899, the Filipino-American War erupted. Due to the superiority
of American arms, the Filipinos fell from one position to another until they were
forced to disband. Even after the official cessation of hostilities and as the
Americans have established government in 1901, the Filipino revolutionaries
continued their struggle for freedom. Between that time until 1935, the
revolutionary army lost many of its cohorts in sporadic engagements with
American troops, but never lost its cause.
With the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth on 15 November 1935,
President Manuel Luis Quezon sought the services of General Douglas McArthur
to evolve a national defense plan. Accordingly, Commonwealth Act No.1,
popularly known as the National Defense Act was enacted into law, which paved
the way to the birth of the new Philippine Army, which was only to be under the
coat of the US Army. With an annual appropriation of 16 million pesos, it trained
new Filipino members in defending the nation and protecting its people.
When World War II broke out in 1941, two regular and ten reserve divisions of
the Philippine Army undertook the defense of the Philippines. These divisions

2. were incorporated into the United States Armed Forces in the Far East
(USAFFE) under the command of General Douglas McArthur.
After the war, four military areas were activated to take the place of military
districts. The Armed Forces was reorganized which gave birth to the four major
services of the Armed Forces. Headquarters National Defense Forces was
renamed General Headquarters Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In the early fifties and the mid-sixties, the Philippine government extended a
helping hand to war-torn countries as part of its commitment as member of the
United Nations. The army spared five battalions which comprised the Philippine
Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) to fulfill its pledge to uphold the
struggle for democracy. The Philippine Civic Action Group to Vietnam
(PhilCAGV) was sent to South Vietnam on a mission of peace, where army
engineers helped build communities and army doctors and nurses provided
medical services to the people.
Under the leadership of Brigadier General Leoncio S. Tan the Philippine Army
established its separate headquarters on 10 July 1957. The onset of the sixties
ushered an expansion of the army's roles, which include participation in the
socio-economic programs of the country, among others.
To achieve greater flexibility and effectiveness, infantry divisions took the place
of the military areas in the seventies. On 21 September 1972, the Martial Law era
began. During the decade, military operations supported by civic action blocked
the escalation of insurgency.
The onset of the eighties saw the birth of the Special Operations Team (SOT)
strategy which is aimed to isolate the insurgents from the civilian population, and
dismantle the communist political organizations, neutralizing and denying them
control of barangays all over the country.
Aside from counterinsurgency campaigns, the SOT plays an additional role in
national development. Together with local government officials, SOT identifies
problems and helps provide assistance in areas that lack needed vital facilities
and service like roads, bridges, schools, health and sanitation, livelihood, etc.
Because of its effectiveness in quelling insurgency, this strategy is being adopted
not only by the Army but by the entire Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The Philippine Army, therefore, is not only the protector of the Filipino people but
also a partner in nation building, true to its slogan, "At your service, across the
land".