The Department of National Defense (DND) is tasked with guarding the Republic of the Philippines “against external and internal threats to national peace and security, and to provide support for social and economic development.”

Events leading up to the establishment of the Defense Department

In the series of missions to the United States, the Philippine Legislature campaigned for independence. It culminated in the U.S. Congress’ enactment of the Tydings-McDuffie Act on March 24, 1934. It provided for a 10-year preparation period for Philippine independence, slated for 1946. At this time, the common sentiment among the National Assembly was that the lack of defense capability was no impediment towards immediate independence. However, in the Fall of 1934, Senate President Quezon began to seek professional opinion about the country’s defenses by seeking counsel from then General Douglas MacArthur, who was slated to step down as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Ared in 1935. MacArthur was receptive to the idea of appointment as military adviser to the Commonwealth. Quezon met with the U.S. Secretary of War George Dern to discuss defense issues and make arrangements for American assistance through MacArthur.

In preparation for the 10-year transitional Commonwealth Government, the Constitutional Convention convened in 1934, tasked with drafting a constitution for the Philippines. It was composed of members elected by the Filipino people. Two of the innovations they incorporated into the draft were a second declaration of principle, which states that all citizens may be required by law to render personal military or civil service, and a third principle which states that “the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy and adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the Nation.”

The second principle was based on the recommendation of the convention’s Committee on National Defense led by delegate Jose Alejandrino, which was modeled after the constitution of the Spanish Republic and other European constitutions that required citizens to become reserve troops in times of war.

The third principle was inspired by the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed by numerous countries around the world in 1928 (including Japan and the United States). The pact outlawed war and aggression as an assertion of sovereignty, which prior to the pact was a generally accepted foreign policy. Having it incorporated in the Philippine Constitution of 1935 set a legal base, not for a War Department, but for a Department of National Defense. This drew much criticism at the time due to the distinct difference between the department and its counterpart in the United States, which only abolished its War Department in 1947, and which created its Department of Defense in 1949.

With the inauguration of the Commonwealth on November 15, 1935, the newly elected President Manuel L. Quezon issued Executive Order No. 2, s.1935, assuming command of military forces, thereby sending the signal that a Filipino chief executive had assumed the role of Commander-in-Chief, the power once held by Spanish and American governor-generals. The next day, President Quezon appointed Douglas MacArthur as military adviser to the Commonwealth, and established the Council of National Defense (Executive Order No. 3, s. 1935). The importance of national defense was emphasized by Quezon calling the National Assembly to a Special Session. In his first State of the Nation Address, Quezon pointed out that the special session was called for the sole purpose of deliberating upon, and passing, a national defense legislation, authorizing a national mobilization in the face of impending threat or aggression. Hence, on December 21, 1935, the National Assembly enacted the first of the Commonwealth Acts, the Commonwealth Act No. 1, known as the National Defense Act. It established the Council of National Defense, with the President as the chairman. It also put emphasis on the supremacy of civil authority over military force—to strengthen constitutional principles of democracy to keep the armed forces subordinate to civilian authority. The Act viewed the formation of a citizen-army composed of reservists, with the core of Philippine land defense that it established resting on a small professional army of some 350 officers and 5,000 enlisted men, with a permanent army headquarters and staff. Henceforth, the day of the enactment of the law became known as the foundation day of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or AFP Day.

Through Executive Order No. 11, s. 1936, dated January 11, 1936, President Quezon appointed Brigadier General Jose delos Reyes as acting Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army. In that same order, the Philippine Constabulary, consisting of some 6,000 officers and enlisted men at the time, was integrated into the Army of the Philippines as regulars. In effect, the Constabulary became the country’s army nucleus.

With all these defense plans coming together, on August 24, 1936,  General Douglas MacArthur was appointed by President Quezon as the Field Marshal of the Philippine Army, the highest military rank in the Commonwealth.  MacArthur was the only one in history to hold the position.

Field Marshal MacArthur, as army commander, believed that at the end of the Commonwealth period, the Philippines would have at least 400,000 reserve citizen-soldiers. By 1938, however, only 69,848 had been given intensive military training, in contrast to the projected 120,000 for a three-year period at the rate of 40,000 a year. Furthermore, the U.S. Congress also rejected any plan to fortify Guam or the Philippines, making the National Assembly exclaim that the Philippines was on its own and should see to its own defenses. The need for a unifying authority of these defense efforts set the precedent for the establishment of a defense department under the Commonwealth president.

In early 1939, President Quezon had serious doubts about the MacArthur defense plan. This was reinforced when General Vicente Lim submitted his resignation as Assistant Chief of Staff, War Plans Division, of the Philippine Army—a resignation President Quezon rejected. Lim and other professional soldiers reported to President Quezon the grim situation faced by the army—a general lack of morality: forgery, embezzlement, lying, and other cases of misconduct. Both Vicente Lim and Fidel Segundo –the first and second Filipino graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point –also expressed doubts about the MacArthur plan because it emphasized producing, in a short time, a large number of reserve of enlisted men without the corresponding officers. Lim and others assured the president that the problem could still be fixed. By May 3 of the same year, Vicente Lim was appointed as the deputy chief of staff. Discussions with General Segundo and Major Dwight Eisenhower also alarmed Quezon, who was informed that MacArthur issued orders directly to Filipino officers, which Quezon believed violated the chain of command; furthermore, MacArthur’s assertion that establishing military camps throughout the country was important for the fostering of a sense of nationhood was, Quezon believed, an intrusion into civilian, political policy and exceeded MacArthur’s authority. President Quezon cut the number of trainees in half, with savings from this put into training better officers, as well as to save for equipment. The fund for weapons could be accumulated until 1946 so the country could buy more modern weapons. By this time, President Quezon was seriously considering the formation of a defense department to expedite defense preparations.

On June 23, 1938, President Quezon persuaded the National Assembly to pass Commonwealth Act No. 343, which abolished the state police force and reorganized the Constabulary, separating it from the Philippine Army, under MacArthur. This resulted in significant changes in the command, with the Constabulary no longer being the nucleus of the army.

The Department of National Defense was finally created on November 1, 1939, by virtue of Executive Order No. 230, s. 1939, issued by President Quezon. Originally having considered the exiled revolutionary general, Artemio Ricarte as the first secretary of national defense, Quezon finally appointed Teofilo Sison, a distinguished lawyer, from Pangasinan as the first Secretary of National Defense. He took his oath of office on November 1, 1939. From then on, the new department wielded executive authority over the army and, therefore, over national defense. Field Marshal MacArthur could no longer order munitions, enroll trainees, nor enter into contracts for the construction of military facilities without the approval of Quezon and Teofilo Sison, the new Secretary of National Defense. Before this date, MacArthur had a free hand in the formulation of policies for the Philippine defense system, and would sometimes overstep his military boundaries. The department oversaw the defense preparations with little assistance from the United States.

Japanese Occupation

Teofilo Sison relinquished the defense portfolio in 1941, to assume the justice portfolio vacated by Jose Abad Santos. Therefore, at the the outbreak of the war, the defense portfolio was vacant. On December 8, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack, effectively crippling the American forces in the Pacific. World War II in the Pacific theater had begun, and the Philippines was drawn into a war not of its own making. Nevertheless, Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans, at the cost of great casualties. 

On December 16, 1941, the National Assembly conferred emergency powers on President Quezon, by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 671, which authorized the president to reorganize the government as necessary, and conferred legislative powers for the duration of the national emergency.  As the Imperial Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, the government was reorganized under Executive Order No. 396 s. 1941, which abolished the Departments of the Interior and Justice and merged other departments. The result was the formation of the Department of Defense, Public Works, Communications and Labor, which was held by Gen. Basilio J. Valdes for the duration of the war.

By the time Corregidor fell to the Japanese on May 6, 1942, the Commonwealth had established a government-in-exile in the United States. The Japanese for their part established a Philippine Executive Commission to assume administrative authority in the occupied areas. With the institution of a Japanese-sponsored Second Republic on October 14, 1943, Commissioner of Justice Jose P. Laurel was elected by the Kalibapi Assembly as the president. The Second Republic did not have its own defense department, but the Constabulary fulfilled its duties as the state’s national police, headed by Guillermo Francisco. The Japanese had complete control of defense.

On September 14, 1944, Field Marshal Douglas MacArthur received a directive from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff instructing him to proceed with the reconquest of Luzon. It was on October 20, 1944, that MacArthur and President Sergio Osmeña (who took over after President Quezon’s death in the United States), landed in Leyte with the Allied forces, thereby reestablishing the Commonwealth government on Philippine soil.

President Sergio Osmeña succeeded to the presidency on August 1, 1944. On August 8, 1944 he issued Executive Order No. 15-W which reorganized the government. On February 27, 1945, MacArthur formally turned over the powers and functions of the government to President Sergio Osmeña. Osmeña issued Executive Order No. 27, s. 1945, reorganizing and expanding the cabinet, and thereby reestablishing the Department of National Defense, with Tomas Cabili as the new Secretary of Defense. The department oversaw the promotion of peace and security throughout the liberated areas of the country. It also performed the additional task of supervising police activities and assisting in the reorganization of all civil police forces. Thus, the department did its duty in defending the people and instilling law and order in the country immediately after the war.

The Third Republic

The United States finally recognized Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, with the inauguration of the Third Republic and its first president, Manuel Roxas. However, there was much to be done to restore order. The proliferation of loose firearms in the hands of guerrillas and civilians alike immediately after the war had posed a new problem to the government. In Central Luzon, a strong wartime guerilla force, known as the Hukbalahap, had held onto its power, and opposed the government. The Huk organization traced its beginnings to the peasant-landlord feuds of the pre-war era, and its leadership was heavily laced with Socialists and Communists. From 1946 to 1950, the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (the new name of the Huk organization), had increased to 10,000-15,000 regulars with over 100,000 supporters in a region of two million inhabitants.

In order to reinforce the defenses of the country against threats from within and without, the DND was charged with the duty of supervising the overall defense program of the country, with its reaffirmed control over the Armed Forces of the Philippines by virtue of Executive Order No. 94, s. 1947, issued on October 4, 1947.

On August 31, 1950, President Elpidio Quirino appointed a new Secretary of Defense, Ramon Magsaysay, to tackle the Huk problem. Magsaysay developed a plan to both attack and attract the Huks. He lobbied Congress to increase its appropriation of budget for the Defense Department, from P57 million to P147,192,246, which was approved for the fiscal year 1952-1953. Magsaysay then trained and equipped nine battalion combat teams to arrange for a coordinated attack on the Huks. At the same time, Magsaysay initiated the Economic Development Corp (EDCOR), which consisted of army engineers who built settlements in 6,500 hectares in Kapatagan, Lanao, and 23,000 hectares in Buldon, Cotabato, where former insurgents were given land to settle on, complete with farm implements and seeds. These former insurgents were also assisted by the Los Baños Agricultural School, to ensure their success in cultivating their land. These unconventional methods won the Huk insurgents over, which lead to their weakening and to the eventual surrender of Huk leader Luis Taruc in 1954. Magsaysay’s efforts were applauded and copied in other parts of the world. The department’s achievement under Magsaysay was said to be Asia’s first victory against internal communism.

Martial Law Period

The department would expand its power when President Ferdinand E. Marcos assumed the presidency in 1965. In his first term, Marcos retained his defense portfolio for the first 13 months. He then undertook the largest reshuffle of the military in Philippine history, with a number of key appointments granted to officers from his home province of Ilocos Norte. He appointed Juan Ponce Enrile as his Secretary of Defense on February 9, 1970, a position Enrile held until August 27, 1971, and again on January 4, 1972 (this time as Minister of Defense), until Enrile’s defection from the Marcos administration.

Under Martial Law, with the promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, the DND was reorganized as the Ministry of Defense. During this time, Defense was the most powerful ministry in the Executive Branch. President Marcos as dictator was vested with powers to “govern the nation and direct the operation of the entire government including all its agencies and instrumentalities.” Defense Minister Enrile focused his efforts on a broad review of defense policies and on dealing with pressing social unrest in Central Luzon and Mindanao. The abolition of civilian institutions such as Congress, the weakening of the judiciary, and the outlawing of political parties, left the military as the only other instrumentality of the national government outside of the Presidency. Thus, it was also during this time that the ministry was plagued by a culture of excess and a propensity to commit human rights violations.

The assassination of Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. on August 21, 1983, set the precedent for a peaceful revolution, EDSA, on February 1986. One of the EDSA Revolution’s pivotal moments was when Defense Minister Enrile, together with AFP Vice Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, defected on February 22, 1986. They withdrew their support from President Marcos, and asked him to step down from office. The success of EDSA made the peaceful transition of power possible. President Corazon C. Aquino was elected president, and a major clean-up of the Ministry of Defense and the military began.

The Defense Department from 1987 to the Present

On July 25, 1987, President Corazon Aquino, the newly elected, issued the Administrative Code of 1987 (Executive Order No. 292, s. 1987), giving executive supervision of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Office of Civil Defense, the Philippine Veterans Office, the National Defense College of the Philippines, and the Government Arsenal, to the reinstituted Department of National Defense.

Today, the Department continues to fulfill its mandate to serve and protect the Filipino people, to protect the State and to ensure security and peace where the sovereignty of the Philippines is present.

Secretaries of National Defense

Name	Term	Administration	Title Held
Teofilo Sison	November 1, 1939 – July 15, 1941	Commonwealth of the Philippines, Quezon	Secretary of National Defense
Jorge B. Vargas	December 11, 1941 to December 22, 1941	Commonwealth of the Philippines, Quezon	Secretary to the President (Executive Secretary) and concurrently Acting Secretary of National Defense
Basilio J. Valdes	December 24, 1941 – February 26, 1945	Commonwealth of the Philippines, Quezon	Secretary of National Defense, Public Works, Communications and Labor
Tomas L. Cabili	February 27, 1945 – July 11, 1945	Commonwealth of the Philippines, Osmeña	Secretary of National Defense, Public Works, Communications and Labor
Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr.	July 12, 1945 – May 27, 1946	Commonwealth of the Philippines, Osmeña	Secretary of National Defense
Ruperto K. Kangleon	May 28, 1946 –  August 31, 1950	Third Republic, Roxas – Quirino	Secretary of National Defense
Ramon Magsaysay	September 1, 1950 – February 28, 1953	Third Republic, Quirino	Secretary of National Defense
Oscar T. Castelo	March 1 1953 – December 30, 1953	Third Republic, Quirino	Acting Secretary of National Defense
Ramon Magsaysay	January 1, 1954 – May 14, 1954	Third Republic, Magsaysay	President of the Philippines, retained the  Defense portfolio in concurrent capacity until 1954
Sotero B. Cabahug	May 14, 1954 – Jan 2, 1956	Third Republic, Magsaysay	Secretary of National Defense
Eulogio B. Balao	January 3, 1956 – August 28, 1957	Third Republic, Magsaysay – Garcia	Secretary of National Defense
Jesus M. Vargas	August 28, 1957 – May 18, 1959	Third Republic, Garcia	Secretary of National Defense
Alejo S. Santos	June 11, 1959 – December 30, 1961	Third Republic, Garcias	Secretary of National Defense
Macario P. Peralta, Jr.	January 1, 1962 – December 30, 1965	Third Republic, Macapagal	Secretary of National Defense
Ferdinand E. Marcos	December 31, 1965 – January 20, 1967	Third Republic, Marcos	President of the Philippines, retained the  Defense portfolio in concurrent capacity until 1967
Ernesto S. Mata	January 21, 1967 – February 3, 1970	Third Republic, Marcos	Secretary of National Defense
Juan Ponce Enrile	February 9, 1970 – August 27, 1971(September 10, 1971)	Third Republic, Marcos	Secretary of National Defense
Ferdinand Marcos	August 28, 1971 – January 3, 1972	Third Republic, Marcos	President of the Philippines, retained the  Defense portfolio in concurrent capacity until until 1972
Juan Ponce Enrile	January 4, 1972 – November 23, 1986	Third Republic, Marcos	Secretary of National Defense; Minister of Defense (January 17, 1973 Constitution)
Rafael Ileto	November 23, 1986 – January 21, 1988	Fourth Republic, Corazon Aquino;Fifth Republic, Corazon Aquino (1987)	Minister of Defense until February 11, 1987 when title returned to Secretary of National Defense (under 1987 Constitution)
Fidel V. Ramos	January 22, 1988 – July 18, 1991	Fifth Republic, Corazon Aquino	Secretary of National Defense
Renato S. De Villa	July 20, 1991 – September 15, 1997	Fifth Republic, Corazon Aquino – Ramos	Secretary of National Defense
Fortunato U. Abat	September 16, 1997 – June 30, 1998	Fifth Republic, Ramos	Secretary of National Defense
Orlando S. Mercado	July 1, 1998 – Jan 29, 2001	Fifth Republic, Estrada – Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Eduardo Ermita	Jan 26, 2001 – March 19, 2001	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Acting Secretary of National Defense
Angelo T. Reyes	March 19, 2001 – Aug 29, 2003	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo	August 29, 2003 – October 2, 2003	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	President of the Philippines, retained the  Defense portfolio in concurrent capacity until, until 2003
Eduardo Ermita	October 3, 2003 – August 24, 2004	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Avelino J. Cruz Jr.	August 25, 2004 – November 30, 2006	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo	November 30, 2006 – February 1, 2007	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	President of the Philippines, retained the  Defense portfolio in concurrent capacity until February 1, 2007
Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr.	February 1, 2007 – July 2, 2007	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Norberto B. Gonzales	July 2, 2007 – August 6, 2007	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Acting Secretary of National Defense
Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr.	August 7, 2007 – November 16, 2009	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Norberto B. Gonzales	November 16, 2009 – June 30, 2010	Fifth Republic, Macapagal-Arroyo	Secretary of National Defense
Voltaire Gazmin	June 30, 2010 – Present	Fifth Republic, Benigno S. Aquino III	Secretary of National Defense

Additional information

Although the Department of National Defense was established in 1939, its tradition dates back to the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Spanish Colonial Period

During the Spanish Colonial Period, the Governor-General of the Philippines was also the Captain General, the highest military rank in the Spanish Cortes. The Captain General, in effect, was the commander in chief of the Spanish army and navy. This position would be adopted by the Tejeros Republic in 1897, although relegated to a separate position from the president. However, from the First Republic onwards, the presidency held the title of Commander in Chief, administering the powers of the army directly to his chiefs of staff.

The Philippine Revolution

In the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution against Spain on August 1896, the need for a “Department of War” was recognized by Filipino revolutionaries, and thus a more systematic chain of command was organized within the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Katipunan), the Filipino revolutionary organization. Andres Bonifacio, Supremo of the Katipunan, picked Teodoro Plata, his brother-in-law, as his secretary of war.

This carried over during the Katipunan’s election of representatives to the Tejeros Convention, during which the position Director of War was created. Emilio Aguinaldo was elected in absentia to the presidency on March 22, 1897, thus abolishing the Katipunan. Emiliano Riego de Dios was also elected as the Director of War. He was sworn in on March 23, 1897, at Tanza, Cavite. The war against Spain demonstrated for the first time the capability of Filipinos to organize a formal army to fight foreign rule.

A peaceful resolution was finally concluded between Filipino and Spanish forces on December 20, 1897, during the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, which temporarily ceased hostilities on both sides, the leaders of the revolution having been voluntarily exiled to Hong Kong.

On May 19, 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo returned from exile to resume the revolution. He organized the Revolutionary Government on June 23, 1898. The Department of War was reinstated when Aguinaldo appointed Baldomero Baloy Aguinaldo as Secretary of War and Public Works, and Antonio Luna—a known military strategist and Ilustrado, trained in Europe—as Director of War (the position now equivalent to Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces). During this time, the army was under the Department of War and Public Works, while the navy was under the Department of Foreign Affairs. Aguinaldo exercised complete control of the army, as Commander in Chief, through his Secretary of War.

Upon the defeat of the Spanish forces in the country, on September 15, 1898, the Malolos Congress was convened, composed of civilian representatives from various regions all over the country. While the congress ratified the Proclamation of Independence, it also attempted to assert civilian control over the Philippine government, which was then dominated by military control.

In fulfillment of this, Aguinaldo appointed certain civilians into crucial defense command positions. He issued an order on September 26, 1898, reorganizing the departments, thereby integrating the Department of War into the Department of Foreign Affairs, with a civilians in charge—Secretary of Foreign Affairs Cayetano Arellano, and Felipe Buencamino as Director of War. General Antonio Luna was made Chief of War Operations. This healthy friction between civilian and military influence in government would turn out to be henceforth an imprint in Philippine governance.

The First Republic

When President Aguinaldo’s cabinet was reorganized on January 1, 1899, under Apolinario Mabini as President of the Government Council (equivalent to Prime Minister), Baldomero Aguinaldo was reinstated as the Secretary of War and Navy. On the inauguration of the First Republic, Antonio Luna was appointed as the Commanding General of the Philippine Army under the Department of War and Navy.  These men held their posts amidst the growing tension between the Philippine government and the American military presence in Manila. Tensions escalated when the 1898 Treaty of Paris was concluded between Spain and the United States, without the representatives from the First Republic. With the outbreak of the Philippine-American War on February 4, 1899, the Department of War and Navy did its duty under heavy fire from the technologically advanced Gatling guns of the American forces.

The American capture of President Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901, at Palanan, Isabela, signalled the end of the First Republic and its war department, but fierce resistance continued, led by General Miguel Malvar, and later by General Macario Sakay.

American Colonial Period

After the fall of the First Republic, the United States abolished the American military government and establishment a civil government, on July 4, 1901. Two weeks later, the Philippine Commission adopted a measure, Act No. 175, which called for the creation of an insular police force charged with the maintenance of peace and order, and the suppression of crime. Thus, the Philippine Constabulary was established on August 8, 1901, to carry out this function. The U.S. Army—including a fighting force of Filipinos, the Philippine Scouts—were tasked to suppress armed insurrections beyond the control of the civil government.

The Constabulary and the U.S. Army remained at the forefront of the country’s defense throughout the American period. Led by American officers and functioning as a bureau, the Constabulary was under the U.S. Department of Commerce and Police. However, to a certain extent, it was controlled by the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department of the United States.

Under American military, and then civil, government, Filipinos were, at first, generally barred from joining the Constabulary. Few Filipinos were taken in as inspectors, including those who had fought in the Philippine-American War and had shown military aptitude. But as civil positions were slowly being opened to Filipinos, the Constabulary soon followed. The first Filipinos on the Constabulary were Jose Velasquez of Nueva Ecija and Felix Llarento of Manila. The first Filipino to become chief of the Philippine Constabulary was Brigadier General Rafael Crame, who served with distinction from December 17, 1917, to January 1, 1927. Americans took over again after Crame’s term, until the appointment of Brigadier General Basilio Valdes as the second Filipino chief of the Constabulary at the eve of the Commonwealth inauguration.

The Jones Law of 1916—and with it the pledge of eventual independence—led to the eventual creation of an all-Filipino legislature composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives. But the mandate of defense was still held by the U.S. War Department.

With the outbreak of World War I, the Philippine Legislature, led by Senate President Manuel L. Quezon, offered the United States assistance by providing a whole division of Filipino troops. They were sourced from the Philippine National Guard, which was instituted by the Militia Act of March 17, 1917.  The gesture was meant to be both a sign of loyalty to the United States and as partial proof of Filipinos’ capability for independence. The National Guard was also viewed by Filipino leaders as a potential nucleus for a future Philippine army under a department of defense, come independence. But the National Guard was only federalized by the U.S. Congress after the war ended. Too little too late, it was eventually disbanded. Later on, when the Tydings McDuffie Act was enacted, the establishment of the Commonwealth Government was set. The 1935 Constitution’s provision on Article II, Section 2 and 3, became the precedent for the establishment of the Defense Department in 1939.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office and the Presidential Museum and Library would like to thank the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Museum for their invaluable assistance in this project.