page_title: History of the Philippine Army
section_title: Initial establishment and training
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Philippine Army / History / Initial establishment and training
caption_attribution_description: English: Philippine Commonwealth Army personnel日本語: フィリピン自治領軍軍人
context_page_description: The Philippine Army was established on December 21, 1935 as the Army of the Philippines, with a general headquarters in Manila, and units and formations based throughout the provinces of the Philippines.
  The Philippine Army was initially organized under the National Defense Act of 1935 that formally created the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
  Certain components of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were under the control of the United States Army Forces in the Far East from 1941 to 1946, after the entry of the U.S. into World War II.
context_section_description: The Army of the Philippines was initially organized under the National Defense Act of 1935 (Commonwealth Act No. 1), of December 21, 1935. The Act specified that presidential appointments to grades above third lieutenant should be made from former holders of reserve commissions in the United States Army and former Philippine Scouts and Constabulary officers.
  After the establishment of the commonwealth, Manuel L. Quezon, its first president, sought the services of General Douglas MacArthur to evolve a national-defense plan. On December 21, 1935, the Army of the Philippines was established. The act set forth the organizational structure of the army and enlistment and mobilization procedures.
  The army's development was slow. In 1936 a general headquarters and camps were built, cadres were organized and instructors, drawn largely from the Philippine Constabulary, were trained. The commander of the Philippine Department provided Philippine Scouts as instructors and detailed U.S. Army officers to assist in the inspection, instruction and administration of the program. By the end of the year, instructors were trained and camps (including general headquarters) established.
  The first group of 20,000 to 40,000 men was called up on January 1, 1937, and by the end of 1939 there were 4,800 officers and 104,000 men in the reserves. Infantry training was provided at camps throughout the Philippines; field-artillery training was concentrated near the U.S. Army's Fort Stotsenburg (near Angeles in the province of Pampanga, about fifty miles north of Manila) and specialized training was provided at Fort William McKinley, south of Manila. Coast artillery instruction was carried out at Fort Stotsenburg and Grande Island, in Subic Bay, by personnel supplied largely by the American commander at Corregidor.
caption: Philippine Army personnel in Davao
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