History
Created on May 12, 1983 by the former Philippine Constabulary as the Philippine Constabulary Special Action Force as a requirement of General Order 323 of Philippine Constabulary Headquarters, Fidel Ramos and Renato de Villa were the founders of the unit. De Villa asked Col. Rosendo Ferrer and Gen. Sonny Razon to organize a Special Action Force. After which, a training program called the SAF Ranger Course, was used to train the 1st generation of SAF operators, which had a number of 149 operatives. Out of them, 26 were known commissioned officers with the others being enlisted personnel from a wide range of PC units such as the defunct PC Brigade, the Long Range Patrol Battalion (LRP), the K-9 Support Company, PC Special Organized Group, the Light Reaction Unit (LRU) of PC METROCOM, the Constabulary Off-shore Action Command (COSAC) and other PC Units. Later on, they changed the name of the course to the SAF Commando Course.
Initially formed to battle against NPA and former MNLF guerillas in the late 1980s and early 1990s, their tasks have been expanded to battle against organized criminal groups, terrorists, guerrillas and common criminals.
During the days of the EDSA Revolution, Fidel Ramos was involved in planning an operation called "Exercise Ligtas Isla" (Exercise Save Island) in case either Imelda Marcos or Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Fabian Ver would take over ruling from Ferdinand Marcos, who had been ill during the last few days of the Revolution. When Corazon Aquino became president, the SAF was mandated to be on standby due to the number of coup attempts by rogue Philippine soldiers.
In January 29, 1991, President Aquino signed Republic Act 6975 into law, which changed the name of the SAF from the PC-SAF to the PNP-SAF as a part of transition from dictatorship under Marcos to a democratic government.
Following recent changes, the SAF will move to a permanent camp at Barangay Pinugay, Baras, Rizal under Proclamation No. 1355 passed on August 2007 from their camp in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.
For the first time, SAF operators are involved in the Balikatan exercises in 2009 since American and Filipino troops are usually involved.
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