Officer Candidate School - Philippines

Philippines

In the Philippines, Officer Candidate School was originally formed out from the defunct Reserve Officer's Service School or ROSS that was established pursuant to the provisions of then Philippine Commonwealth Act Number 1 or otherwise known as "The National Defense Act of the Philippines" in the 1930s. This was created in preparation for the Defense capability of the Philippines-10 year program of training of Filipino Servicemen and Civilian Volunteers (Reserve) forming the Philippine Army as the main ground forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. A transfiguration took place with some military personnel from the Philippine Constabulary as its nucleus to form the Philippine Army. However, that 10 year program would not be completed at the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, ROSS training was stopped, and with enough enlisted personnel trainees to be officers were immediately called to active duty to serve the war most particularly with the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). The need for commissioned officers after the U.S. liberation of the Philippines in 1940's prompt the ROSS to reemmerge as the School for Reserve Commission before it became the Officer Candidate School. Early trainings were held in Camp Tinio, Bangad, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Nichols Air Base in Pasay City and Fort Bonifacio in Metro Manila. Some graduates of these classes were sent to conflicts in both Korea and Vietnam. Later, OCS training location was moved to Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal and had its glorious turn out of graduates from Class 1 in 1987 to Class 27 in 2005. The officer candidates with the rank of Probationary Second Lieutenant and Probationary Ensign have to undergo and pass the 12-month Officer Candidate Course before they can be commissioned as Regular and Reserve Officers in the Philippine Army, the Philippine Constabulary, the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Navy and the Technical Service (Medical Administrative Corps and Women's Auxiliary Corps). In 1993, OCS started accepting two foreign officer candidates from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces which joined the Officer Candidate Course "Balikatan" Class 12-94. In 1994, five female OCs belonging to AFPOCS "Balikatan" Class 12-94 graduated to become the first female officers of the AFP and were not included anymore as Women's Auxiliary Corps officers. Some Filipino officer candidates were also sent to train in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Today, Officer Candidate School in the Philippines were distributed on each armed services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) - Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy, these armed services conducts each of their officer's training annually on separate locations such as Philippine Air Force Aviation OCS in Fernando Air Base, Lipa City; Philippine Army OCS in Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac; and Philippine Navy OCS in San Antonio, Zambales.