The National Defense College of the Philippines
was first conceived in 1957 when the military advisors of
the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) proposed the
setting-up of a SEATO War College in the Philippines.
Cognizant of the need to establish a higher educational institution
in the military that would be an institution at the zenith
of the defense establishment where civilian-military cooperation
for national security could be effectively forged, President
Diosdado Macapagal signed Executive Order No. 44 on August
12, 1963, authorizing the establishment of the National Defense
College of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (NDCAFP) and
putting the College under the administrative and operational
guidance of the AFP Chief of Staff. The College opened its
first Regular Class (RC) on 15 February 1966.
There were legislative moves to pass a
law creating the National Defense College of the Philippines.
In the House of Representatives, Congressman Manuel A. Zosa
filed the House Bill 1420 in 1970 proposing an “Act
Creating the National Defense College of the Philippines and
for other Purposes.” Also in the same year, Congressman
Ramon D. Bagatsing filed the House Bill No. 1447 proposing
an “Act Creating the National Defense College of the
Philippines, Providing an Academic Board, and for Other Purposes.”
In the Senate, Senator Leonardo B. Perez filed the Senate
Bill 597 proposing an “Act Creating the National Defense
College of the Philippines and for other Purposes.”
However, these legislative proposals did not reach third reading
because President Ferdinand E. Marcos dissolved the Philippine
Congress.
President Marcos subsequently issued P.D. No. 190 in 1973
to formally create the NDCP to "fulfill the need for
an institution that will provide for continuing and intensive
studies of the diversified problems related to national defense
and security." NDCP was then placed under the Office
of the Secretary of National Defense in 1974 by virtue of
P.D. No. 452.
The Academic and Admission Boards were
later established to oversee the academic program of the College.
To carry out its teaching function, the NDCP draws top experts
from the academe and senior officers with command and staff
experiences from the major services of the AFP.
Lectures by foreign diplomats, technical experts and defense
leaders also complement the instruction at the NDCP. The NDCP
has managed to grow beyond its modest beginnings to train
leaders in the military and civilian bureaucracy in strategic
thinking.
On 22 February 1998, the College moved to its new and modern
three-story building in the Academic Row, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo
in Quezon City.
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