Armed Forces of The Philippines - Military Ranks

Military Ranks

See also: Military ranks of the Philippines for the full set of ranks

Ranks of officers in the Philippine Military are usually pronounced in Filipino, in which they adapt the military ranks from the U.S. Military forces. The officer ranks are as follows:

  • Pangalawang Tenyente (Second Lieutenant/2LT)
  • Unang Tenyente (First Lieutenant/1LT)
  • Kapitan (Captain/CAPT)
  • Magat (Major/MAJ),
  • Tenyente Koronel (Lieutenant Colonel/LTCOL)
  • Koronel (Colonel/COL)
  • Brigadyer Heneral (Brigadier General/BGEN)
  • Magat Heneral (Major General/MGEN)
  • Tenyente Heneral (Lieutenant General/LTGEN)
  • Heneral (General/GEN)

These ranks are officially used in the Philippine Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. Also, the pronunciations of these ranks are actually adaptations from the Spanish and English languages except, for the words "pangalawang" and "unang" which came from original Tagalog pronunciation.

In the Philippine Navy however, the pronunciation in Filipino of the officer's ranks, is just the same as in English since these ranks were adopted from the ranks of U.S. and British navies. There are some ranks though (placed in parenthesis) that can be translated and officially pronounced in Filipino. The ranks are as follows:

  • Ensayn (Ensign (ENS))
  • Tenyente na Mabababang Baitang (Lieutenant (junior grade)/LTJG)
  • Tenyente or Tenyente na Mataas na Baitang (Lieutenant or Lieutenant Senior Grade/LT or LTSG)- The latter rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade is a unique rank in the Philippine Navy, thus it is used instead of just Lieutenant.
  • Tenyente Kumander (Lieutenant Commander/LCDR)
  • Kumander (Commander/CDR)
  • Kapitan (Captain/CAPT)
  • Komodor (Commodore/COMMO) - The rank of Commodore instead of Rear Admiral (lower half) is used in the Philippine Navy
  • Rir Admiral (Rear Admiral/RADM)
  • Bise Admiral (Vice Admiral/VADM)
  • Admiral (Admiral/ADM)

The alternative style of address for the ranks of Lieutenant Junior Grade and Lieutenant Senior Grade in Filipino is simply tenyente derived from the Spanish Teniente because it is too redundant if one addresses them fully in Filipino. It is also the same as Second and First Lieutenants in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps.

The ranks of enlisted personnel in Filipino are just the same as their U.S. counterparts but, they never use the ranks of "Specialist", "Sergeant First Class", "First Sergeant" (for Philippine Army and Air Force except Marine Corps), "Lance Corporal", "Gunnery Sergeant" and "Master Gunnery Sergeant" in the Philippine Army and Marine Corps. They simply start to address their ranks from Private Second Class up to Sergeant Major. Sergeant Majors in the AFP are only appointments for senior ranked NCOs rather than ranks, examples of such appointment being the Command Sergeant Major, AFP (held by a First Chief Master Sergeant or a First Master Chief Petty Officer) and the Command Master Chief Petty Officer, Philippine Navy (held by a MCPO).

In the Philippine Air Force, they also use Airman Second Class up to Chief Master Sergeant, the same as in its U.S. counterparts. (The PAF ranks of Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant are also now used as enlisted ranks in the Army and Marine Corps.)

In the Philippine Navy, they also use enlisted ranks which come from the U.S. Navy with their specialization, e.g. "Master Chief and Boatswain's mate Juan Dela Cruz, PN" (Philippine Navy).

In effect the AFP uses the pre-1950s US armed forces enlisted ranks, with several minor changes, especially in the Navy.

The alternative style to address the non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel in Filipino are as follows

  • from Privates up to Privates First Class, pribeyt or mga pribeyt for a group of privates, adopted from the English language.
  • Kabo for corporals which is adopted from the word "cabo" in Spanish, but the most common is korporal (except air force they use airman or airmen and airwoman or airwomen from Airman up to Senior Airman).
  • Sarhento for sergeants in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps which is also adopted from the word "sargento" from the Spanish language.

In the Navy, the original Filipino alternative style for Seaman or Seawoman Apprentice up to Seaman or Seawoman First Class is mandaragat or mga mandaragat for a group of seamen and seawomen. For petty officers, they are called P.O.'s and tsip for Chief (Petty) Officers up to (First) Master Chief (Petty) Officers.

There are no warrant officers in between officer ranks and enlisted ranks.

The uniqueness of Philippine military ranks can be seen in the new ranks of First Chief Master Sergeant (for the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force) and First Master Chief Petty Officer (for the Navy) both created in 2004, and since then has become the highest enlisted rank of precedence. Formerly Chief Master Sergeant and Master Chief Petty Officer were the highest enlisted ranks and rates, the former being the highest rank of precedence for Army, Air Force and Marine NCOs. Today only the rank of First Master Chief Petty Officer is unused yet but the rank of First Chief Master Sergeant is now being applied.

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