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Philippines Philippine Constabulary
The Philippine Constabulary, which was to be disbanded and
absorbed into a civilian police force beginning in 1991, was the
oldest of the nation's four armed forces. It was established by
the United States colonial government in 1901 to preserve peace
and order and provided the nucleus of the first regular division
of the Commonwealth's army in 1936. It remained an element within
the army (after 1946 as the Military Police Command) until 1950
when it was reestablished as a separate force. It was formally
renamed the Philippine Constabulary in 1959.
After its renaming, the Philippine Constabulary officially
constituted a national police force and essentially operated as a
gendarmerie, holding primary authority for law enforcement and
domestic security. It was responsible for dealing with largescale crime, conducting wide-area operations, and enforcing the
peace and national laws, especially in remote areas where other
forces were nonexistent or ineffective. The constabulary also
played a prominent role in combating the Moro and communist
insurgencies. Following the creation of the Integrated National
Police in 1975, the constabulary operated with the new force
under a joint command structure
(see Law Enforcement
, this ch.).
Organized and equipped along military lines, the constabulary
was headed in 1990 by a major general, who served concurrently as
the director general of the Integrated National Police. He was
assisted by deputies for the Philippine Constabulary and
Integrated National Police, and by his Camp Crame, Manila,
headquarters staff, which was similar to the AFP's General
Headquarters staff. Constabulary forces throughout the country
were supported and controlled through a system of regional
commands, with one command in each of the country's twelve
political regions. Under the operational control of the area
commands, the regional commands controlled subordinate Philippine
Constabulary and Integrated National Police provincial commands.
These 73 provincial headquarters in turn supervised 234
constabulary companies, which were the constabulary's line units.
Regional Special Action Companies provided backup to the line
companies and acted as counterinsurgency strike forces. An
additional area command, known both as Capital Command and the
Metropolitan Police Force, directed Philippine Constabulary and
Integrated National Police elements in Manila. Metropolitan
District Commands performed a similar function in eight of the
nation's other major urban areas.
The constabulary also had a variety of specialized units with
nationwide responsibilities that operated independently of the
regional command system. These included the Criminal
Investigative Service, Highway Patrol Group, Security Group,
Crime Lab, and Support Command. The Philippine Constabulary
Training Command was responsible for instructing enlisted
constables and their officers, whose training paralleled that of
the army. In 1983 the constabulary created an elite national
reaction force, the Philippine Constabulary Special Action Force,
with the capability to combat terrorism, hijacking, and
insurgency. These additions contributed to the overall growth of
members of the constabulary during the 1980s, from approximately
33,500 in 1980, to an estimated 45,000 members in 1990.
On January 1, 1991, the Philippine Constabulary and the
Integrated National Police were combined to form the Philippine
National Police. The Philippine National Police took immediate
responsibility for most former Integrated National Police
functions, including fire and jail services, and was to assume
responsibility for the counterinsurgency effort from the AFP
after two years, in 1993. Few details were available at the end
of 1990 on how the military planned to effect the transfer of
police and, ultimately, counterinsurgency responsibilities to
civilian control.
Data as of June 1991
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