Armed Forces of the Philippines | |
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Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas | |
Flag of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
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Emblem of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
MARTSA NG KAWAL PILIPINO (Filipino Soldiers March) |
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Founded | December 21, 1935 |
Service branches |
Philippine Army Philippine Air Force Philippine Navy ∟ Philippine Marine Corps |
Headquarters | Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City |
Website | http://www.afp.mil.ph/ |
Leadership | |
Commander-in-chief | President Rodrigo Duterte |
Secretary of National Defense | Delfin Lorenzana |
Chief of Staff | Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, AFP |
Manpower | |
Military age | 18–56 years old |
Conscription | None enforced, optional through ROTC |
Available for military service |
25,614,135 (2010 est.) males, age 15–49, 25,035,061 (2010 est.) females, age 15–49 |
Fit for military service |
20,142,940 (2010 est.) males, age 15–49, 2,427,792 (2010 est.) females, age 15–49 |
Active personnel | 172,500 (2017) |
Reserve personnel | 385,116 (2017) |
Expenditures | |
Budget | $3 billion/₱140 billion (2018) |
Percent of GDP | 1% |
Industry | |
Domestic suppliers |
Government Arsenal Steelcraft Industrial and Development Corp. Floro International Corporation United Defense Manufacturing Corporation Ferfrans Armscor Joavi Philippines Corp. |
Foreign suppliers |
United States United Kingdom Australia Canada Russia China Japan South Korea Taiwan Indonesia Germany Italy Israel Sweden |
Related articles | |
History |
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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) (Filipino: Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas) (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de Filipinas) are the military forces of the Philippines, composed of the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy (including the Philippine Marine Corps) and Philippine Air Force. Previous attached branch was the defunct Philippine Constabulary, while the Philippine Coast Guard is a war time attached service. Military service is entirely voluntary. In 2012, the AFP Chief of Staff said that there had been no increase in the number of soldiers over a long period, and that the military aimed to hire 30,000 troops in three years.
Pre-Hispanic Philippines maintained local militia groups under the barangay system. Reporting to the datu, these groups, aside from maintaining order in their communities, also served as their defense forces. With the arrival of Islam, the system of defense forces in the Mindanao region's sultanates under Muslim control mirrored those other existing sultanates in the region. These local warriors who were in the service of the Sultan were also responsible to qualified male citizens appointed by him.
During the Spanish colonial period, the Spanish Army was responsible for the defense and general order of the archipelago in the land, while the Spanish Navy conducts maritime policing in the seas as well as providing naval logistics to the Army. The Guardia Civil took police duties and maintaining public order in villages and towns. In the early years of Spanish colonial era, most of the formations of the army were composed of conquistadors backed with native auxiliaries. By the 18th and 19th Centuries, line infantry and cavalry formations were created composed of mixed Spanish and Filipino personnel, as well as volunteer battalions composed of all-Filipino volunteers during the later half of the 19th Century. Units from other colonies were also levied to augment the existing formations in the Philippines. Almost all of the formations of the Spanish Army in the archipelago participated in the local religious uprisings between 17th and 19th Centuries, and in the Philippine Revolution in 1896 fighting against the revolutionary forces. At the peak of the revolution, some Filipinos and a few Spaniards in the Spanish Army, Guardia Civil, and Navy defected to the Revolutionary Army.