History of Criminal Justice

System in the Philippines

History of the Military of the
Philippines
The Government
The community called barangay was the basic unit of government. It
consisted of 30 to 100 families. The tagalog word barangay was derived
from the Austronesian balangay, a boat which transported the
Austronesian immigrants to the Philippines . the Spaniards changed the
letter L in balangay ro r and pronounced it the Spanish way:
barangay. Each barangay was independent and was ruled by a chieftain.
It was the primary duty of the chieftain to rule and govern his people
justly and to promote their welfare. The subjects , in the other hand,
served their chieftain in times of war with other barangays and helped
him in tilling and sowing the land. They paid tribute to him. This tribute
was called buwis, the Tagalog word for tax. The chieftains children and
other relatives were highly respected in the community and were
exempted from paying tribute and from rendering personal services to
the chieftain.
The chieftain was powerful and exercised the powers of the executive, the
legislative, and the judiciary. In war, he was the supreme commander.
However, he was aided by a council of elders in his role as lawmaker. The
council gave the chieftain some wise pieces of advice in order to guide
him in the administration of justice.
The Chieftain of a barangay made the laws of
the community. When he had a law in ind, he
called in the council of elders to give their
opinion. If the elders approved the proposed
law, the chieftain ordered a town cryer, called
umalohokan, to announce to the community
the approval of the law. With a bell in one
hand, the umalohokan would ring it as he went
along to call the attention of the people. Then
he explained the new law to them. Any person
violating the law was immediately arrested an
brought before the chieftain for trial.
Most disputes during the ancient times were decided peacefully. The
court of justice was composed of the chieftain as judge and the elders of
the barangay as members of the jury. If conflicts arose between
members of different barangays, the differences were resolved by
arbitration. A board composed of elders from neutral barangays acted as
arbiter.
The trial of a case was usually held in public. The accuser and the accused
faced each other with their witnesses. The witnesses usually took an oath
to prove their honesty. The oaths took such forms as, May the crocodile
devour me if I tell a lie;May I die here and now if I do not tell the
truth; and so forth. Then the parties to the litigation presented their
arguments and their respective witnesses. The man who had ore
witnesses was usually judged to be the winner. If the defeated person
contested the decision of the chieftain, the latter openly sided with the
winner and compelled the loser to accept his decision. The loser had no
other alternatives than to accept the decision of the chieftain.

The trial by ordeal was not unique to the ancient Filipinos. It
was also done in Europe to determine who of the disputants
was right or telling the truth. As practiced in the
Philippines, the trial by ordeal consisted of ordering the
suspects, in the case of theft, to dip their hands into a pot of
boiling water. The suspect whose hand was scalded the
most was judged guilty. Another form of trial by ordeal was
holding lighted candles by the suspects. The suspect whose
candle died out first was the guilty party. Another form of
trial by ordeal consisted of ordering the suspects to plunge
into a deep river with their lances. The one who rises to the
surface first was pronounced guilty. Still another form was
ordering the suspects to chew uncooked rice. The one whose
saliva was thickest was the culprit.
The Spanish, arriving in the Philippines in the mid-sixteenth century, found indigenous
systems of law in place that functioned adequately in the towns and villages they very
quickly came to occupy and control. These laws were based on traditional beliefs and
customs and were enforced by a recognised ruling elite who retained their status and
control by maintaining a comparatively high level of wealth. New laws, when they were
needed, were encoded by these elite groups and then announced to their respective
communities. Those citizens who chose not to abide by a set of community laws, or who
had broken them and feared the consequences, could leave, their option being residence
outside of established villages, usually in the mountains. There they had little contact
with their families, were forced into association with the Negritos who could be
antagonistic, and often had little option but to continue or resort to criminal activity to
derive some sort of income.

Those involved in disputes did not necessarily need recourse to the legal system to settle
their differences. The law, however, was there and available if attempts at personal
negotiation failed. Accusations could be made to a village chief acting as a judge and a
case could be brought against an individual. If a judge could not settle the matter, it went
to mediation and subsequently to what we may call a trial. Oaths were taken by the
litigants that they would abide the judges decision, witnesses called, testimony heard, a
decision reached and a sentence subsequently brought down.
Cases coming before a village judge ranged from the civil to the criminal. Matters such
as insults, adultery, deception and defaults on loans were some of the civil cases heard.
Thefts, assaults, ambushes, and murder were some of the criminal cases.

Punishment varied depending on the severity of the crime and the
person against whom it was perpetrated. Death was a common
sentence, although it may not have been commonly carried out. It
was frequently commuted to a fine which the guilty party had to
pay within a set period of time. Failure to pay would result in
enslavement. The guilty could also be incarcerated. This usually
meant being chained or placed in a pillory or stocks, although
discrete rooms or buildings could have served as prisons in the
larger towns.
The Spanish did not greatly alter this indigenous system of justice,
although the system was to change as the society around it
changed. The royal audiencia was established in the Philippines in
1583. This served as an overriding legal body, somewhat like a
supreme court, but having administrative as well as legal
functions. It took the decision to follow the traditional customs in
place in the Philippines with regard to matters of slavery,
inheritance, marriage, and other civil matters. This was codified in
1599 by Juan de Plasencia when the customary law of the Tagalogs
was defined as the common law throughout the Philippines.
Spanish law applied in all criminal cases and civil disputes not
covered by customary law.
The Spanish retained this system of justice throughout their
occupation of the Philippines, allowing the native population a
substantial degree of autonomy in running their affairs. Even by
the mid-nineteenth century, each township in a province still had
what was called a gobernadorcillo [a petty governor] who was an
elected magistrate for the town. He had a number of alguaciles
[assistants] in charge of the administration of justice. Each town
was also divided into a number of barangay lead by a cabeza de
barangay [a village headman or chief] replacing the earlier dto'
and in charge of the 40 to 50 families resident there. To maintain
law and order the gobernadorcillo also appointed officials called
bilnggo for each barangay . The gobernadorcillo, as a magistrate,
tried civil cases involving small sums of money with appeals
going to the alguaciles . For criminal cases and civil suits involving
large sums of money, the gobernadorcillo acted as a court of first
instance with appeals going to the audiencia.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines was officially
established on June 11, 1901 through the passage of Act No.
136, otherwise known as the Judiciary Law of the Second
Philippine Comission. By virtue of that law, judicial power
in the Philippine Islands was vested in the Supreme Court,
Courts of First Instance and Justice of the Peace courts.
Other courts were subsequently established.
The judicial structure introduced by Act No. 136 was
reaffirmed by the US Congress with the passage of the
Philippine Bill of 1902. The Administrative Code of 1917
ordained the Supreme Court as the highest tribunal of the
Philippines with nine members: a chief justice and eight
associate justices. Its decisions could be further appealed to
the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Pre-Colonial Period (before 1565)
Battle of Mactan
The Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521, is celebrated as the earliest reported resistance of
the natives in the Philippines against foreign invaders. Lapu-Lapu, a Chieftain of Mactan
island, defeated Christian European explorers led by the Portuguese navigator
Ferdinand Magellan.
On March 16, 1521, the island of Samar was sighted. The following morning, March 17,
Magellan landed on the island of Homonhon He parleyed with Rajah Calambu of
Limasawa, who guided him to Cebu Island on April 7. With the aid of Magellan's Malay
interpreter, Enrique, Rajah Humabon of Cebu and his subjects converted to Christianity
and became allies. Suitably impressed by Spanish firearms and artillery, Rajah Humabon
suggested that Magellan project power to cow Lapu-Lapu, who was being belligerent
against his authority.
Magellan deployed 49 armored men, less than half his crew, with crossbows and guns,
but could not anchor near land because the island is surrounded by shallow coral
bottoms and thus unsuitable for the Spanish galleons to get close to shore. His crew had
to wade through the surf to make a landing and the ship was too far to support them
with artillery. Antonio Pigaffeta, a supernumeracy on the voyage who later returned to
Seville, Spain, records that Lapu-Lapu had at least 1500 warriors in the battle. During the
battle, Magellan was wounded in the leg, while still in the surf. As the crew were fleeing
to the boats, Pigafetta recorded that Magellan covered their retreat, turning at them on
several occasions to make sure they were getting away, and was finally surrounded by a
multitude of warriors and killed. The total toll was of eight crewmen killed on
Magellan's side against an unknown number of casualties from the Mactan natives.
Philippine revolts against Spain
Dagami Revolt (1567)
Manila Revolt (1574)
Conspiracy of the Maharlikas (1587-1588)
Dingras Revolt (1589)
Cagayan Revolt (1589)
Magalat Revolt (1596)
Igorot Revolt (1601)
Irraya or Gaddang Revolt (1621)
Sumuroy Revolt (1649-1650)
Palaris Revolt (17621765)
Cavite Mutiny (1872)

Moro campaign (1569-1898)
Battle of Cebu (1569)
Spanish-Moro Incident (1570)
Jolo Holy War (15781580)
Cotabato Revolt (1597)
Spanish-Moro Incident (1602)
Basilan Revolt (1614)
Kudarat Revolt (1625)
Battle of Jolo (1628)
Sulu Revolt (1628)
Lanao Lamitan Revolt (1637)
Battle of Punta Flechas (1638)
Sultan Bungsu Revolt (1638)
Mindanao Revolt (1638)
Lanao Revolt (1639)
Sultan Salibansa Revolt (1639)
Corralat Revolt (1649)
Spanish-Moro Incident (1876)

Limahong campaign (1574-1576)
The Invasion of Limahong
Eighty Years' War (1568-1648)

Battle of Cavite (1600)
Moluccas Expedition (1606)
Siege of Manila (1609-1610)
Battle of Playa Honda (1617, 1624)
Formosa Expedition (1626-1627)
Battles of La Naval de Manila (1646)
Battle of Puerto de Cavite (1647)
Battle of Abucay (1647)

Chinese insurrections (1603-1640)
First Chinese Insurrection (1603)
Second Chinese Insurrection (1639-1640)
Seven Years' War (1756-1763)
Seven Years' War
Battle of Manila (1762)
Silang Revolt (1762-1763)
Diego Silang
Gabriela Silang

Philippine Revolution (1896-1898)
The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896, upon the discovery of the anti-colonial
secret organization Katipunan by the Spanish authorities.
The Katipunan, led by Andres Bonifacio, was a secessionist movement and shadow
government spread throughout much of the islands whose goal was independence from
Spain through armed revolt. In a mass gathering in Caloocan, the Katipunan leaders
organized themselves into a revolutionary government and openly declared a
nationwide armed revolution. Bonifacio called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on
the capital Manila. This attack failed, but the surrounding provinces also rose up in
revolt. In particular, rebels in Cavite led by Emilio Aguinaldo won early victories. A
power struggle among the revolutionaries led to Bonifacio's execution in 1897, with
command shifting to Aguinaldo who led his own revolutionary government. That year,
a truce was officially reached with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and Aguinaldo was exiled to
Hong Kong, though hostilities between rebels and the Spanish government never
actually ceased.
Battle of Alapan
Battle of Binakayan
Battle of Dalahican
Battle of Julian Bridge
Battle of San Juan del Norte
Cry of Pugad Lawin
Negros Revolution
The first battle in the Philippine theater was in Manila Bay, where, on May 1, 1898,
Commodore George Dewey, commanding the United States Asiatic Squadron aboard
the USS Olympia, in a matter of hours, defeated the Spanish squadron, under Admiral
Patricio Montojo y Pasarn. Dewey's force sustaining only a single casualty a heart
attack aboard one of his vessels.
After the battle, Dewey blockaded Manila and provided transport for Emilio Aguinaldo
to return to the Philippines from exile in Hong Kong. Aguinaldo arrived on May 19 and,
after assuming command of Filipino forces on May 24, initiated land campaigns against
the Spanish. After the Battle of Manila on the morning of August 13, 1898 (a mock battle
between U.S and Spanish forces), the Spanish governor, Fermin Jaudenes, surrendered
Manila to U.S. forces under Dewey.
On June 12, 1898, with the country still under Spanish sovereignty, Aguinaldo
proclaimed Philippine independence from Spain, under a dictatorial government then
being established. The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared and written
in Spanish by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, who read it at the proclamation ceremony.
The Declaration was signed by ninety-eight persons, among them an American army
officer who witnessed the proclamation. The insurgent dictatorial government was
replaced on June 23 by an insurgent revolutionary government headed by Aguinaldo as
president. The SpanishAmerican War was formally concluded on December 10, 1898 by
the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Spain. In that treaty, Spain ceded the
Philippine Archipelago to the United States, and the United States agreed to pay
US$20,000,000 to the Spanish government.The United States then exercised sovereignty
over the Philippines. The insurgent First Philippine Republic was formally established
with the proclamation of the Malolos Constitution on January 23, 1899.
Philippine-American War (1899-1913)
The PhilippineAmerican War

was a conflict between the United States of America and
the First Philippine Republic from 1899 through at least 1902, when the Filipino
leadership generally accepted American rule. A Philippine Constabulary organized in
1901 to deal with the remnants of the insurgent movement and gradually assumed the
responsibilities of the United States Army. Skirmishes between government troops and
armed groups lasted until 1913, and some historians consider these unofficial extensions
part of the war.
Siege of Catubig
Battle of Tirad Pass
Battle of Pulang Lupa
Battle of Paye
Battle of Makahambus Hill
Battle of Mabitac
Battle of Lonoy
Battle of Pagsanjan
Battle of Siranaya
Battle of the Malalag River
Battle of Quingua
Battle of Balangiga

World War 1 (1914-1918)
In 1917 the Philippine Assembly created the Philippine
National Guard with the intent to join the American
Expeditionary Force. By the time it was absorbed into the
National Army it had grown to 25,000 soldiers. However,
these units did not see action. The first Filipino to die in
World War I was Private Tomas Mateo Claudio who served
with the U.S. Army as part of the American Expeditionary
Forces to Europe. He died in the Battle of Chateau Thierry in
France on June 29, 1918. The Tomas Claudio Memorial
College in Morong Rizal, Philippines, which was founded in
1950, was named in his honor.
World War 2 (1939-1945)
The first Filipino military casualty during the Second World
War was serving as an aviator with British forces. First
Officer Isidro Juan Paredes of the Air Transport Auxiliary
was killed on November 7, 1941, when his aircraft overshot
a runway and crashed at RAF Burtonwood. He was buried
at Great Sankey (St Mary) Churchyard Extension, but later
repatriated to the Philippines. Paredes Air Station in Ilocos
Norte, was named in his honor.
U.S. Army Forces Far East (USAFFE)
United States Armed Forces in the Philippines -
Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
Philippine Scouts (PS)
Philippine Constabulary (PC)
Commonwealth Army of the Philippines
Recognized Guerrilla Units
The Philippines joined the Korean War in August 1950. The
Philippines sent an expeditionary force of around 7,500
combat troops. This was known as the Philippine
Expeditionary Forces To Korea, or PEFTOK. It was the 4th
largest force under the United Nations Command then
under the command of US General Douglas MacArthur that
were sent to defend South Korea from a communist
invasion by North Korea which was then supported by Mao
Zedong's China and the Soviet Union. The PEFTOK took
part in decisive battles such as the Battle of Yultong Bridge
and the Battle of Hill Eerie. This expeditionary force
operated with the United States 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd
Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, and 45th Infantry
Division.
Battle of Yultong Bridge
Battle of Hill Eerie
The Philippines was involved in the Vietnam
War, supporting civil and medical operations.
Initial deployment in 1964 amounted to 28
military personnel, including nurses, and 6
civilians. The number of Filipino troops who
served in Vietnam swelled to 182 officers and
1,882 enlisted personnel during the period
1966-1968. This force was known as the
Philippine Civic Action Group-Vietnam or
PHILCAG-V.
The Philippines sent 200 medical personnel to
assist coalition forces in the liberation of
Kuwait from the stranglehold of Iraq then led
by Saddam Hussein.
The Philippines sent 60 medics, engineers and
other troops to assist in the invasion of Iraq.
The troops were withdrawn on the 14th of July,
2004, in response to the kidnapping of Angelo
dela Cruz, a Filipino truck driver. When
insurgent demands were met (Filipino troops
out of Iraq), the hostage was released. While in
Iraq, the troops were under Polish command
(Central South Iraq). During that time, several
Filipino soldiers were wounded in an insurgent
attack, although none died.
Early 1950s to present
Hukbalahap
New People's Army
National Democratic Front
Late 1960s to present
Moro National Liberation Front
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Abu Sayyaf Conflict
The Burnham Hostage Crisis
The Maundy Thursday Rescue
Rajah Sulaiman movement
People Power Revolution
19861987 Philippine coup attempts
1989 Philippine coup attempt
EDSA Revolution of 2001

Attempted coups against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
EDSA III
Oakwood Mutiny -The Oakwood Mutiny refers to a short-lived
event which occurred in 27 July 2003 when members of the
Philippine Marine Corps and Army took hold of the Glorietta
Mall and the Oakwood Premier Condominium in Makati City.
See Oakwood Mutiny
2006 state of emergency in the Philippines
Manila Peninsula Mutiny

Treaty of Paris (1763) (minor role)
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The National Defense Act of 1935 - In 1935 The National Defense
Act of 1935 was enacted. President-elect Manuel L. Quezon
convinced Chief of Staff of the United States Army General
Douglas MacArthur to act as the military adviser to the
Commonwealth of the Philippines. MacArthur was given the title
"Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government" and tasked with
establishing a system of national defense, for the Philippines, by
1946. For a time, MacArthur would also act as the Field Marshal of
the Philippine Army.
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) (dissolved)
Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of the Philippines
and the United States of America (1951)
RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement
BALIKATAN - "Shoulder to Shoulder" Joint US-Philippines Military
Exercises
Eighty Years' War
Seven Years' War
Cochinchina Campaign
Philippine Revolution
SpanishAmerican War
PhilippineAmerican War
World War I
World War II
Japanese occupation of the Philippines
Philippines campaign (1941-42)
Philippines campaign (1944-45)
Cold War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Communist Insurgencies
War on Terror
Islamic Insurgencies
Operation Iraqi Freedom

www.wikipidea.org
Philipine History: Expanded and Updated
Version by Teodoro A. Agoncillo &
Fe. B Mangahas
101 Stories of the Philippine Revolution by
Dr. Ambeth R.Ocampo
Social Studies in Perspective 1
Social Studies in Perspective 2