Established under the National Defense Act of 1935, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) serve as the principal military defense force of the Republic of the Philippines, operating under the executive authority of the Department of National Defense. Throughout decades of internal security operations in the southern region of Mindanao against separatist and insurgent groups, the AFP deployed dedicated joint task forces comprising regular army infantry battalions, naval units, and air support. The force is organized into three main service branches, the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy, and Philippine Air Force, and it has maintained an extensive history of joint training exercises and mutual defense cooperation with the United States military dating back to a treaty signed in 1951. All active-duty personnel hold standardized military ranks, receive statutory salaries funded directly by official congressional appropriations in the national budget, and are governed strictly by the Articles of War and constitutional oversight. The organization operates within a centralized chain of command heading directly to the Chief of Staff and the President of the Philippines. It maintains no independent commercial enterprises or private foundations, functioning strictly as a formal organ of the constitutional government.
