The orders and decorations conferred upon civilians and military personnel in the Republic of the Philippines, are listed by order of precedence. The first list is of civilian awards, which take precedence over and above military awards. The next list is of awards conferred upon the military or formerly military units. Philippine civilian orders and decorations are conferred by the President of the Philippines, in his or her capacity as head of state. In certain instances, the conferment of certain orders and decorations requires the concurrence of the Congress of the Philippines, or of certain advisory bodies.
The civilian order of precedence, established by the Honors Code of the Philippines (Executive Order No. 236), is as follows:
This means that the Quezon Service Cross, for example, is highest; followed by the Orders of Lakandula, Sikatuna, and the Philippine Legion of Honor, all of which are of the same rank; they in turn, are higher than the Order of Gabriela Silang, etc.
The Philippines is a rare example of having orders and decorations that are considered to be of equal rank to each other; this is a reflection of the particular circumstances surrounding the establishment of the various awards.
In addition to the State Honors mentioned above, the Republic of the Philippines established its only order of knighthood through Republic Act No. 646 in honor of the aspirations and ideals of the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. In English it is known as the Knights of Rizal and in Spanish, Orden de Caballeros de Rizal. It ranks as lowest of the Philippine orders of merit.
These are military decorations which recognize service and personal or unit accomplishments of members and units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and Philippine Marine Corps).