From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector
US Army to help them fight the soldiers of the Philippine Republic. They acted as scouts and guides under General Lawton. The United States Army had confidence and experience
in utilizing local mercenaries to fight their own countrymen.
They had organized Indian units (Apache Scouts and Navajo
Scouts) during their Indian Campaigns.
Department” was set up under the United States Army to
take charge of these Filipino units, designated as “Philippine
Scouts” with the PS suffix placed after their company or regiment number to distinguish them from other US formations.
They however remained under the command of US regular
officers.25
As the battle raged in Calumpit, more than a hundred Macabebes in their Sunday clothes shamelessly marched towards
the American lines and volunteered their combat services.
These units were employed against Filipino revolutionaries
and the Moro fighters of Mindanao. Soldiers and units of
the PS were increased after 1902 when the United States
officially declared the end of the Philippine-American War.
Units of the PS were designated as the 43rd, 45th, and 57th
Infantry Regiments; the 24th and 25th Field Artillery Regiments, the 26th Cavalry Regiment; and the 91st and 92nd
Coast Artillery Regiments and other support units. Eventually they were grouped under a Division, the “Philippine
Division”. Filipino officers were commissioned gradually
starting in 1910. One Filipino cadet was sent to the US Military Academy a year for Officers Training.
Impressed by their loyalty and potential, General Otis, commander of all US ground forces in the Philippines, approved
their maximum utilization. An initial company was organized
under Lt. Matthew A. Batson. Eventually, five companies totaling 640 men (128 men per company) were formed and
placed under Batson and employed in October 1899 to pursue Aguinaldo’s forces. They became known as the Macabebe Scouts. They were reorganized into the Philippine Cavalry Squadron,24 an irregular unit under the US Army.
c) The Philippine Constabulary (1901-1935)
b) The Philippine Scouts (1901-1945)
By October 1901, that United States Army decided to regularize Filipino armed units they were employing to replace and
become the main army units in the Philippines. A “Philippine
72
The United States Army, simultaneous with the organization
of the Philippine Scouts, organized the Philippine Constabulary (PC) on August 8, 1901, while the Philippine-American
War was raging all over Luzon and the Visayas.