The Philippines first sent athletes to the Southeast Asian Games in 1977. Prior to 1977, the Southeast Asian Games were known as the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games. The country has hosted the games four times; in 1981, 1991, 2005, and 2019. The country's best finish at the games happened twice, both of them which they hosted: in 2005 finishing as overall champions of the games with Thailand and Vietnam finishing second and third in the overall medal standings. and in 2019 in which they beat their own 2005 medal record. Their best finish in the games, excluding editions hosted by the Philippines, was at the 1983 edition where they finish second behind Indonesia.

Philippines is set to host the 2033 Southeast Asian Games, after 14 years. The last time Philippines hosted the Games was in 2019 in Various places.

The country ranks 5th in the all-time Medal Tally of the Southeast Asian Games and the 4th in the region to have hit 1,000-mark in the 3 tiers of medals.

Ranking is based on total gold medals earned.

Ranking is based on total gold medals earned.

Ranking is based on total gold medals earned.