Military ranks of the Philippines for the full set of ranks

Ranks of officers in the Philippine Military are usually pronounced in Filipino,

[citation needed]
in which
they adapt the military ranks from the U.S. Military forces. The officer ranks are as follows
[!!][!"]
Pulimagat #Second $ieutenant%"$T&
Kamagat #First $ieutenant%!$T&
Magat #'aptain%'PT&
Himagat #Ma(or%M)*&,
Kalakan #$ieutenant 'olonel%$T'+$&
Lakan #'olonel%'+$&
Brigadyer ,eneral #-ri.adier /eneral%-/01&
Magat Heneral #Ma(or /eneral%M/01&
Tenyente Heneral #$ieutenant /eneral%$T/01&
Heneral #/eneral%/01&
These ranks are officially used in the Philippine )rmy, )ir Force and Marine 'orps. )lso, the
pronunciations of these ranks are actually adaptations from the Spanish and 0n.lish lan.ua.es
e2cept, for the words 3pan.alawan.3 and 3unan.3 which came from ori.inal Ta.alo.
pronunciation.
4n the Philippine 1a5y howe5er, the pronunciation in Filipino of the officer6s ranks, is (ust the same
as in 0n.lish since these ranks were adopted from the ranks of U.S. and -ritish na5ies. There are
some ranks thou.h #placed in parenthesis& that can 7e translated and officially pronounced in
Filipino. The ranks are as follows
[citation needed]
Ensayn #0nsi.n #01S&&
Tenyente na Mabababang Baitang #$ieutenant #(unior .rade&%$T*/&
Tenyente or Tenyente na Mataas na Baitang #$ieutenant or $ieutenant Senior /rade%$T
or $TS/&8 The latter rank of $ieutenant Senior /rade is a uni9ue rank in the Philippine 1a5y,
thus it is used instead of (ust $ieutenant.
Tenyente Kumander #$ieutenant 'ommander%$':R&
Kumander #'ommander%':R&
Kapitan #'aptain%')PT&
Komodor #'ommodore%'+MM+& 8 The rank of 'ommodore instead of Rear )dmiral
#lower half& is used in the Philippine 1a5y
Rir Admiral #Rear )dmiral%R):M&
Bise Admiral #;ice )dmiral%;):M&
Admiral #)dmiral%):M&
The alternati5e style of address for the ranks of $ieutenant *unior /rade and $ieutenant Senior
/rade in Filipino is simply tenyente deri5ed from the SpanishTeniente 7ecause it is too redundant
if one addresses them fully in Filipino. 4t is also the same as Second and First $ieutenants in the
)rmy, )ir Force and Marine 'orps.
The ranks of enlisted personnel in Filipino are (ust the same as their U.S. counterparts 7ut, they
ne5er use the ranks of 3Specialist3, 3Ser.eant First 'lass3, 3First Ser.eant3 #for Philippine )rmy
and )ir Force e2cept Marine 'orps&, 3$ance 'orporal3, 3/unnery Ser.eant3 and 3Master /unnery
Ser.eant3 in the Philippine )rmy and Marine 'orps. They simply start to address their ranks from
Pri5ate Second 'lass up to Ser.eant Ma(or. Ser.eant Ma(ors in the )FP are only appointments
for senior ranked 1'+s rather than ranks, e2amples of such appointment 7ein. the 'ommand
Ser.eant Ma(or, )FP #held 7y a First 'hief Master Ser.eant or a First Master 'hief Petty +fficer&
and the 'ommand Master 'hief Petty +fficer, Philippine 1a5y #held 7y an either M'P+ or 'MS
or a S'P+ or SMS&.
4n the Philippine )ir Force, they also use )irman Second 'lass up to 'hief Master Ser.eant, the
same as in its U.S. counterparts. #The P)F ranks of Senior Master Ser.eant and 'hief Master
Ser.eant are also now used as enlisted ranks in the )rmy and Marine 'orps.&
4n the Philippine 1a5y, they also use enlisted ranks which come from the U.S. 1a5y with their
speciali<ation, e... 3Master 'hief and -oatswain6s mate *uan :ela 'ru<, P13 #Philippine 1a5y&.
4n effect the )FP uses the pre8!=>?s US armed forces enlisted ranks, with se5eral minor
chan.es, especially in the 1a5y.
The alternati5e style to address the non8commissioned officers and enlisted personnel in Filipino
are as follows
from Pri5ates up to Pri5ates First 'lass, pribeyt or mga pribeyt for a .roup of pri5ates,
adopted from the 0n.lish lan.ua.e.
Kabo for corporals which is adopted from the word 3ca7o3 in Spanish, 7ut the most
common is korporal #e2cept air force they use airman or airmen and airwoman or airwomen
from )irman up to Senior )irman&.
arhento for ser.eants in the )rmy, )ir Force and Marine 'orps which is also adopted
from the word 3sar.ento3 from the Spanish lan.ua.e.
4n the 1a5y, the ori.inal Filipino alternati5e style for Seaman or Seawoman )pprentice up to
Seaman or Seawoman First 'lass is mandaragat or mga mandaragat for a .roup of seamen and
seawomen. For petty officers, they are called P.+.6s and tsip for 'hief #Petty& +fficers up to #First&
Master 'hief #Petty& +fficers.
[citation needed]
There are no warrant officers in 7etween officer ranks and enlisted ranks.
The uni9ueness of Philippine military ranks can 7e seen in the new ranks of First 'hief Master
Ser.eant #for the )rmy, Marine 'orps and )ir Force& and First Master 'hief Petty +fficer #for the
1a5y& 7oth created in "??@, and since then has 7ecome the hi.hest enlisted rank of precedence.
Formerly 'hief Master Ser.eant and Master 'hief Petty +fficer were the hi.hest enlisted ranks
and rates, the former 7ein. the hi.hest rank of precedence for )rmy, )ir Force and Marine 1'+s.
Today only the rank of First Master 'hief Petty +fficer is unused yet 7ut the rank of First 'hief
Master Ser.eant is now 7ein. applied.
Five Star General/Admiral
President Ferdinand Marcos, who acted also as national defense secretary #from !=A>B!=AC and
!=C!B!=C"&, issued an order conferrin. the fi5e8star .eneral%admiral rank to the President of the
Philippines, makin. himself as its first rank holder.
[citation needed]
Since then, the rank of fi5e8star
.eneral%admiral 7ecame an honorary rank of the commander8in8chief of the armed forces
whene5er a new president assumes office for a si28year term thus, makin. the President the most
senior military official.
[!D]
The only career military officer who reached the rank of fi5e8star .eneral%admiral is
President Fidel ;. Ramos #USM) !=>?& #president from !=="B!==E& who rose from second
lieutenant up to commander8in8chief of the armed forces.
[!@]

Rank insignia
The )FP, like the military forces of Sin.apore and 4ndonesia, uses unitary rank insi.nia for
enlisted personnel, in the form of raised che5rons increasin. 7y seniority, sa5e for the Philippine
)ir Force which uses in5erted che5rons from )irman "nd 'lass onward only since recently.
[!>]
4n
the Philippine 1a5y these are supplemented 7y ratin. insi.nia 7y specialty, similar to the United
States 1a5y. $ike the -ritish and Spanish armed ser5ices, howe5er, senior ranked 1'+s
#especially in the Philippine 1a5y& also wear shoulder rank insi.nia only on the mess, semi8dress
and dress uniforms, and in some cases e5en collar insi.nia. $ike the US military all 1'+s wear
slee5e stripes to denote years of ser5ice in the enlisted ranks. Slee5e insi.nia for enlisted
personnel in the )rmy, 1a5y and Marine 'orps are similar 7ut are different from those used in the
US.
+fficer ranks in the )FP are inspired 7y re5olutionary insi.nia used 7y the Philippine )rmy after
the !E=E declaration of independence. These are unitary rank insi.ina used in the e5eryday,
com7at, duty and technical uniforms 7oth on shoulders and collars #the latter in the khaki
uniforms of the 1a5y&, 7ut in the semi8dress, dress and mess uniforms are different The )rmy, )ir
Force and Marine 'orps use unitary rank insi.nia on the shoulder 7oard 7ut the 1a5y uses the
5ery same rank insi.nia format as in the US 1a5y e2cept for the star #for 0nsi.ns to 'aptains& in
almost all officer uniforms and all .eneral officer and fla. officer shoulder 7oards in the full dress
uniform are in .old colored 7ack.rounds with the rank insi.nia and the )FP seal #the star
arran.ement is the same in the )rmy, )ir Force and Marines 7ut is different in the 1a5y&. The
1a5y uses slee5e insi.nia only on its dress 7lue uniforms. $ieutenants and 'aptains wear ! to D
trian.les #and 1a5y 0nsi.ns and $ieutenants #(unior and senior .rades& in their workin., duty and
com7at uniforms& while Ma(ors, $ieutenant 'olonels and 'olonels wear !, ", and D suns #7oth
trian.les and suns ha5e the ancient 7ay7ayin letter ka #F& in the center& as well as 1a5y superior
officers #$ieutenant 'ommanders, 'ommanders and 'aptains& in their workin., duty and com7at
uniforms respecti5ely.