The Philippine Constabulary (PC) was one of two national police forces of the Philippines and was organized in 1901 by the United States appointed administrative authority.

Under the National Defense Act of 1935, promogulated by General Douglas MacArthur (then newly appointed as commander in chief of the Philippine military), this force became the backbone of the Philippine Regular Army , but was later re-established after World War II and was known as both the Philippine Constabulary and as the Military Police Command. It consisted of soldiers trained in police (and military police) duties who had a nationwide jurisdiction. They patrolled the highways, guarded government buildings and facilities, and performed regular police functions in rural and remote areas.

The Constabulary also maintained a Boat Service to patrol the extensive waters of the Philippines, crime and forensic labs, and a national Constabulary Investigations Service which acted in a similar way to the FBI (the National Burea of Investigations was formed later). The Commandant was also the Chief of the Integrated National Police (the municipal police force for the larger towns and cities). The PC was organized on similar lines to the army, and consisted of a General Staff located at its General Headquarters at Camp Crame, Manila, and 12 Regional Commands consisting of 104 Provincial Commands; these controlled the 450 Constabulary companies which performed all the day-to-day police work. The Regions were based on the country's political regions and directly controlled the various Highway Patrol, Rangers and investigative groups. PC headquarters directly controlled many other services needed at a national level such as the Special Action Group, Central Crime Laboratory, White Collar Crime Group, and Office of Special Investigations (which was a counter intellingence group).

The Philippine Constabulary Rangers, or PC Rangers, were independent light infantry companies which served as a counter-insurgency force similar to United States Army Rangers and were organized into 12 large regional companies.

After the fall of the Marcos regime in the 1980s, it was determined that a new Philippine National Police was to be formed by merging the Integrated National Police and the Philippine Constabulary, with the PC forming the basis as it had the most developed infrastructure. The PC was then removed from the Ministry of Defense and eventually civilianised through attrition and recruitment of new personnel.

See also

• History of the Philippines
  • Military History of the Philippines
• Constabulary