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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 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".
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