Founded under the National Defense Act of 1935, while tracing its roots to the Philippine Revolutionary Army, the AFP has played an integral part in the country's history.

Those who survived the invasion but escaped from the Japanese formed the basis of recognized guerrilla units and ongoing local military force of the Philippine Commonwealth Army that continued the fighting against the enemy all over the islands.

[33] This included[citation needed] "Project Santa Barbara" under the Philippine Navy, which saw the testing of the Bongbong II MLRS - named after Marcos' son - in 1972.

– discuss][better source needed] The military was given many functions aside from its task of national defense, including assisting in the implementation of price controls imposed on key products like corn and rice, enforcing the rules of the national corn procurement program, assisting in the collection of rural and government bank loans, implementing the agrarian reform law, and various police functions such as collecting unlicensed firearms and enforcing curfews, and suppressing strikes, rallies, and other demonstrations.

[36] Generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their supposed retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts.

[38] This led to a loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned.

[50] Aside from human rights abuses, these units were also accused of hounding media entities,[51][52] corporate management,[53] and opposition groups[54] with threats, intimidation, and violence.

[62] During the chaos, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement headed by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile decided to stage a military coup against Marcos.

Manila's Catholic Archbishop, Jaime Sin, went on Radio Veritas and called for people to go to the section of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue in between the two camps and help protect the rebel forces.

[63] Since civilian groups were already planning massive protests in relation to the election results, a large crowd was able to gather and prevent Marcos' forces from attacking camps Aguinaldo and Crame.

[69][70] When it came out, The Davide Commission Report recommended several short-term and long-term counter-measures, including the establishment of a civilian national police force, a crackdown on corruption in the military, a performance review of appointive government officials, reforms in the process of military promotions, a review of election laws in time for the 1992 presidential elections, and a definitive statement on the part of Aquino on whether she intended to run for re-election in 1992.

[72] In 2000, on President Joseph Estrada's orders, the AFP launched an all-out offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a breakaway group of the MNLF that wants to proclaim Mindanao an independent state.

[76] In 2013, the AFP successfully quelled the Zamboanga City attacks of the Moro National Liberation Front, which proclaimed the independence of the short-lived Bangsamoro Republik.

[77] After the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014, the AFP has played a key part in the normalization process with the MILF, which includes "the decommissioning of MILF combatants and their weapons and the transformation of several camps into productive and resilient communities,"[78] developing a close working relationship with the Philippine National Police and the MILF-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) in the pursuit of peace in the Bangsamoro.

[109] However, civil society is no longer identified as a major strategic priority under the 15 year AFP Transformation Roadmap initiated during the Duterte administration, as it had been under the 2003-2016 PDR Program.

[111] Alongside capability development, "professionalization of all ranks" is one of two strategic priorities identified by the 15 year AFP Transformation Roadmap which replaced the PDR Program during the Duterte administration.

10349, approved by President Benigno Aquino III on December 11, 2012, amended RA7898 to establish a revised AFP modernization program[114] lasting another 15 years ending in 2027.

A common thread in all: the lack of strategy-based planning that would focus DND/AFP on addressing priority threats and link capability requirements with the acquisition process.

The ten are:[117] From the perspective of the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND), the framework for reforms is based on an environment of increasing economic prowess and a gradually decreasing threat level over time, and seeks to make the following improvements:[118] 1.

Implement capability for seamless interoperability by developing proficiency in the conduct of joint operations, eliminating crisis handling by individual major services as done previously.

According to the goals stated in the Philippines Defense Reform Handbook: "The PDR serves as the overall framework to re-engineer our systems and re-tool our personnel.

As of 2010[update], U.S. observers were uncertain whether Arroyo's successor, Benigno Aquino III, chosen in Philippine Presidential elections on May 10, 2010, will continue the tradition of rapid turnover of senior leadership.

[130] Longstanding treaties, such as the aforementioned 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982,[131] are of great importance to the Philippines in supporting maritime security in particular; respectively, their legally binding nature provides long-term effectiveness for mutual defense cooperation and for the development of the Philippine maritime and archipelagic domain.

Meanwhile, junior officers ranging from the ranks of second lieutenant/ensign to colonel/captain, as well as enlisted personnel, will be compulsorily retired upon reaching the age of 56 or served a maximum of 30 years of active service, while flag officers who reached the rank of brigadier general/commodore to lieutenant general/vice admiral will have a retirement age of 59, unless named as a commander of the service branch or unified command, as defined in the law.

11939 was signed by President Bongbong Marcos, which reduced number of officials of having fixed terms to only five, namely the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which will have a maximum of a three-year tenure.

[144] Recent national policies have shifted the strategic direction of the AFP towards external, territorial defense as opposed to previous, internal foci.

Some of the challenges with this change in strategic direction include the uneven distribution of maritime security resources among territorial, transnational, environmental, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) conflicts.

[145] For example, Philippine Executive Order 57, signed in 2011 by President Benigno Aquino III, established a central inter-agency mechanism for enhancing governance in the country's maritime domain.

The position is honorary and may be granted to any military officer, especially generals or admirals who had significant contributions and showed heroism, only in times of war and national defense concerns and emergencies.

Sleeve insignia for enlisted personnel in the Army and the Navy are similar but are different from those used in the US while those in the Marine Corps mirror its US counterpart but with special symbols from Master Sergeants onward (adopted in the early 2000s).