Philippine Military Hierarchy

The Philippine military ranks are always pronounced in Filipino and they do not follow English rank structural terminology. These ranks are normally inspired by the first ever military insignia used by the Early Philippine military in 1896 during the great Philippine Revolution. The ranks are adapted from US military ranks. The Philippine military hierarchy is described as below starting from then highest rank and ending with the lowest one:

Philippine Military Hierarchy
Philippine Military Hierarchy
  • Heneral (General / GEN) – The highest rank in the Philippine military hierarchy is Heneral adapted from General rank of the US military ranks. The Heneral is a four star rank. This rank is normally abbreviated GEN.
  • Tenyente Heneral (Lieutenant General / LTGEN) – Next rank in the Philippine military hierarchy, sub ordinate to Heneral is Tenyente Heneral, basically a three star rank abbreviated LTGEN and equivalent to Lieutenant General.
  • Magat Heneral (Major General / MGEN) – Magat Heneral takes the charge in absence of Tenyente Heneral and is a commissioned officer with two star rank and adapted from Major General rank of the US military ranks and with abbreviation MGEN.
  • Brigadyer Heneral (Brigadier General / BGEN)– A lower level commissioned officer rank equivalent to Brigadier General is next rank in the hierarchy i.e. Brigadyer Heneral which is a one star rank and is abbreviated as BGEN.
    • Koronel (Colonel / COL) – Next rank in the Philippine military hierarchy is Koronel which is adapted from Colonel Rank in US military rank hierarchy.
    • Tenyente Koronel (Lieutenant Colonel / LTCOL) – Abbreviated as LTCOL and equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel, the rank higher to Magat and sub ordinate to Koronel is Tenyente Koronel. Tenyente Koronel is in command in absence of a Koronel.
    • Magat (Major / MAJ) – Magat is a lower level commissioned officer with abbreviation MAJ in Philippine military, adapted from Major title of US military Hierarchy ranks.
    • Kapitan (Captain / CAPT) – Adapted from Captain rank of US military rank hierarchy and abbreviated as CAPT, Kapitan is a lower level commissioned officer rank of Philippine military hierarchy.
    • Unang Tenyente (First Lieutenant / 1LT) – The second lowest level rank of commissioned officers in Philippine military hierarchy, Unang Tenyente rank is equivalent to First Lieutenant rank of US military ranks and acts under the command of Kapitan.
    • Pangalawang Tenyente (Second Lieutenant / 2LT) – This rank is the lowest rank under high commissioned officer and abbreviated as 2LT. This is equivalent to Second Lieutenant Rank.

There are also some other ranks in this hierarchy that are lower to these above ranks but are non – commissioned ranks means those ranks do not possess any commanding authority. These ranks are described below along with their equivalent names from US military ranks:

  • Unang Tsip Master Sarhento (First Chief Master Sergeant)
  • Tsip Master Sarhento (Chief Master Sergeant)
  • Senvor Master Sarhento (Senior Master Sergeant)
  • Master Sarhento (Master Sergeant)
  • Sarhento (Sergeant)
  • Kabo (Corporal)
  • Praybayt ng Unang Klase (Private First Class)
  • Praybayt (Private)