 General Arturo Enrile Building housing the AFP Museum in January 2025 | |
 | |
| Established | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Location | Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines |
| Coordinates | 14°36′40″N121°03′43″E / 14.6110°N 121.0619°E |
| Type | Military history museum |
| Owner | AFP Museum and Historical Library Foundation Inc. |
The Armed Forces of the Philippines Museum, also known as the AFP Museum is a military museum located within the premises of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Philippines. [1]
Established in 1996 through a "verbal pronouncement" by then Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Arturo Enrile, the museum is located in the building named after Gen. Enrile at Camp Aguinaldo. The following year, a group of individuals from the military and private sector established the AFP Museum and Historical Library Foundation Inc., a non-stock, nonprofit private foundation in order to ensure the continuity of the museum's activities; [2] hence, the museum does not directly operate under the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office regularly supports the museum's projects. [3] On December 20, 2024, President Bongbong Marcos led the launching of the renovated museum. [4]
The museum consists of two storeys of the Gen. Arturo Enrile building and the adjacent Kagitingan (Filipino, "bravery" or "valor") Park. The lower level showcases the development of the Philippine military through different eras of its history. The upper level consists of displays dedicated to the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy (including the Philippine Marine Corps) and the Philippine Air Force. The Kagitingan Park is used to display decommissioned military vehicles and weapons. [1]
Notable among the museum's collections are two letters written by Apolinario Mabini to Emilio Aguinaldo concerning Antonio Luna. One of the letters, dated February 28, 1899, stated that Luna had renounced his position as Director of War Operations due to Aguinaldo's failure to censure officers who refused to obey his orders. The other, dated March 6, 1899, disclosed that Luna had published a circular order stating that he would execute anyone who refused to obey his orders. Mabini also states in this letter that Luna had executed someone in Bocaue, Bulacan without benefit of a court-martial. [1] Aguinaldo's rayadillo uniform is also in the museum's collection. [3]
A wall display showcasing recipients of the Medal of Valor was inaugurated by former President Fidel V. Ramos in 2011. [5]
Items on display at the museum include the following:
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Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who became the first president of the Philippines (1899–1901), and the first president of an Asian constitutional republic. He led the Philippine forces first against Spain in the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898), then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine–American War (1899–1901). Though he was not recognized outside of the revolutionary Philippines, he is regarded in the Philippines as having been the country's first president during the period of the First Philippine Republic.
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The People Power Revolution was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines that began in 1983 and culminated in 1986. The methods used amounted to a sustained campaign of civil resistance against regime violence and electoral fraud. This case of nonviolent revolution led to the toppling of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of the country's democracy.
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Media related to Armed Forces of the Philippines Museum at Wikimedia Commons