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In the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...
is divided into three levels:
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
and
independent cities An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor state ...
, component cities and
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
, and
barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...
s, all of which are collectively known as local government units (LGUs). In one area, above provinces and independent cities, is an
autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy� ...
, the
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ar, منطقة بانجسامورو ذاتية الحكم فى مسلمى مينداناو , native_name = , settlement_type = Autonomous region , anthem = Bangsamoro Hymn , image_skyline ...
. Below barangays in some cities and municipalities are
sitio A ''sitio'' (Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popu ...
s and
purok A ''purok'' ( en, district or zone) is a division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a purok often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a baranga ...
s. All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their own
executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...
s and
legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
s. Sitios and puroks are often but not necessarily led by an elected barangay councilor. Provinces and independent cities are organized into national government regions but those are administrative regions and not separately governed areas with their own elected governments. According to the
Constitution of the Philippines The Constitution of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish: ''Constitución de la República de Filipinas'') is the constitution or the supreme law of the Republic of the Philippin ...
, the local governments "shall enjoy local autonomy", and in which the
Philippine president The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...
exercises "general supervision".
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
enacted the
Local Government Code of the Philippines Codification of laws is a common practice in the Philippines. Many general areas of substantive law, such as criminal law, civil law and labor law are governed by legal codes. Tradition of codification Codification is predominant in countri ...
in 1991 to "provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization with effective mechanisms of
recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatc ...
,
initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...
, and
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...
, allocate among the different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and provide for the qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of local officials, and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of local units." Local government units are under the control and supervision of the
Department of the Interior and Local Government The Department of the Interior and Local Government ( fil, Kagawaran ng Interyor at Pamahalaang Lokal), abbreviated as DILG, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public saf ...
.


Levels of local government


Autonomous regions

Autonomous regions have more powers than other local governments. The constitution limits the creation of autonomous regions to Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only one autonomous region exists: the
Bangsamoro ar, منطقة بانجسامورو ذاتية الحكم فى مسلمى مينداناو , native_name = , settlement_type = Autonomous region , anthem = Bangsamoro Hymn , image_skyline ...
, which replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In 1989, a plebiscite established the ARMM. In 2001, a plebiscite in the ARMM confirmed the previous composition of the autonomous region and added
Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan ( cbk, Provincia de Basilan; yka, Wilayah Basilanin; tsg, Wilaya' sin Basilan; fil, Lalawigan ng Basilan), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Reg ...
(except for the city of Isabela) and
Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi ( Maranao: ''Inged a Marawi''; fil, Islamikong Lungsod ng Marawi), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...
in
Lanao del Sur Lanao del Sur ( tl, Timog Lanao; Maranao language, Maranao and ilp, Pagabagatan Ranao), officially the Province of Lanao del Sur, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Autonomous Re ...
. Isabela City remains a part of the province of Basilan despite rejecting inclusion in the ARMM. In 2019, another plebiscite confirmed the replacement of the ARMM with the Bangsamoro, and added Cotabato City and 63 barangays in Cotabato. A Cordillera Autonomous Region has never been formed because two plebiscites, in
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
and
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
, both resulted in just one province supporting autonomy; this led the Supreme Court ruling that autonomous regions should not be composed of just one province. Each autonomous region has a unique form of government. The ARMM had a regional governor and a regional legislative assembly, mimicking the
presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separatio ...
of the national government. The Bangsamoro will have a chief minister responsible to parliament, with parliament appointing a wa'lī, or a ceremonial governor, in a
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
.


Provinces

Outside the lone autonomous region, the provinces are the highest-level local government. The provinces are organized into component cities and municipalities. A province is governed by the governor and a legislature known as the
Sangguniang Panlalawigan Sangguniang Panlalawigan (abbreviated as SP; ), commonly known as the Provincial Board, are the legislatures in Philippine provinces. They are the legislative branches of the provinces, and their powers and responsibilities are defined by the Loc ...
.


Cities and municipalities

Municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
in the Philippines is divided into three – independent cities, component cities, and municipalities (sometimes referred to as towns). Several cities across the country are "independent cities" which means that they are not governed by a province, even though like
Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo ( hil, Siyudad/Dakbanwa sang Iloilo; fil, Lungsod ng Iloilo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines on the island of Panay. It is the capital city of ...
the provincial capitol might be in the city. Independent city residents do not vote for nor hold provincial offices. Far more cities are ''component cities'' and are a part of a province. Municipalities are always a part of a province except for
Pateros Pateros, officially the Municipality of Pateros ( tgl, Bayan ng Pateros), is the lone municipality of Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 63,643 people. This municipality is famous for its duck-rai ...
which was separated from
Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The province is named after Jos� ...
to form
Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...
. Cities and municipalities are governed by mayors and legislatures, which are called the
Sangguniang Panlungsod The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is the local legislative body of a city governments in the Philippines. The name of the legislative body comes from the Tagalog words "''sanggunian''" ("council") – ultimately from the rootword "''sangguni''" ( ...
in cities and the
Sangguniang Bayan The Sangguniang Bayan () is the local legislative branch of the municipal governments in the Philippines. It is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions for the administration of a municipality. Its powers are defined by the Local Gov ...
in municipalities.


Barangays

Every city and municipality in the Philippines is divided into barangays, the smallest of the local government units. Barangays can be further divided into
sitio A ''sitio'' (Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popu ...
s and
purok A ''purok'' ( en, district or zone) is a division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a purok often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a baranga ...
s but those divisions do not have leaders elected in formal elections supervised by the national government. A barangay's executive is the Punong Barangay or barangay captain and its legislature is the
Sangguniang Barangay The Sangguniang Barangay, also known as the Barangay Council, and formerly as the Rural Council and then the Barrio Council, is the legislative body of a barangay, the lowest form of government in the Philippines. The term is coined from the Ta ...
, composed of barangay captain, the Barangay Kagawads (barangay councilors) and the SK chairman. The SK Chairman is the head of Sangguniang Kabataan which is composed of 1 SK Chairperson and 7 SK Kagawads that also leads the assembly for youth, the
Katipunan ng Kabataan Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a council meant to represent the youth in each barangay in the Philippines. It was put "on hold", but not quite abolished, prior to the 2013 barangay elections. In January 2016, the Sanggunian ...
or KK.


Offices

Local governments have two branches:
executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...
and
legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
. All courts in the Philippines are under the
Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on J ...
and therefore there are no local-government controlled
judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
es. Nor do local governments have any
prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...
s or
public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
s, as those are under the jurisdiction of the national government. The executive branch is composed of the
Wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
as the head of region and Chief Minister as the head of government for the
Bangsamoro ar, منطقة بانجسامورو ذاتية الحكم فى مسلمى مينداناو , native_name = , settlement_type = Autonomous region , anthem = Bangsamoro Hymn , image_skyline ...
, governor for the provinces, mayor for the cities and municipalities, and the barangay captain for the barangays.Local Government Code of the Philippines, Book III
,
Department of the Interior and Local Government The Department of the Interior and Local Government ( fil, Kagawaran ng Interyor at Pamahalaang Lokal), abbreviated as DILG, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public saf ...
official website.


Legislatures

The legislatures review the ordinances and resolutions enacted by the legislatures below. Aside from regular and ''ex-officio'' members, the legislatures above the barangay level also have three sectoral representatives, one each from women, agricultural or industrial workers, and other sectors.


Elected officials

All elected officials have 3-year terms, save for the wa'lī which is six years, and can only serve a maximum of three consecutive terms before being ineligible for reelection.Local Government Code, Book I
,
Department of the Interior and Local Government The Department of the Interior and Local Government ( fil, Kagawaran ng Interyor at Pamahalaang Lokal), abbreviated as DILG, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public saf ...
official website.
*a Sangguniang Kabataan official who has surpassed 21 years of age while in office is allowed to serve for the rest of the term.


Offices that are common to municipalities, cities and provinces

There are 44 offices in a government, whether it is municipal, city or provincial. There are some mandatory and optional offices to the government. Source: ''Local Government Code of 1991''


Responsibilities

Among the social services and facilities that local government should provide, as stipulated in Section 17 of the Local Government Code, are the following: *facilities and research services for agriculture and fishery activities, which include seedling nurseries, demonstration farms, and irrigation systems; *health services, which include access to primary health care, maternal and child care, and medicines, medical supplies and equipment; *social welfare services, which include programs and projects for women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities, as well as vagrants, beggars,
street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and polic ...
, juvenile delinquents, and victims of drug abuse; *information services, which include job placement information systems and a public library; *a solid waste disposal system or environmental management system; *municipal/city/provincial buildings, cultural centers, public parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities and equipment; *infrastructure facilities such as roads, bridges, school buildings, health clinics, fish ports, water supply systems, seawalls, dikes, drainage and sewerage, and traffic signals and road signs; *state/local colleges and universities; *public markets, slaughterhouses, and other local enterprises; *public cemeteries, memorial parks/gardens, and columbariums; *tourism facilities and other tourist attractions; and *sites for police and fire stations and substations and municipal jail.


Creation and modification

As a matter of principle, higher legislative entities have the power to create, divide, merge, abolish, or substantially alter boundaries of any lower-level local government through a law or ordinance, all subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be conducted by the
Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
(COMELEC) in the local government unit or units directly affected. The Local Government Code has also set requisites for creating local government units. A summary can be found in the table below:


See also

* List of primary local government units of the Philippines


Notes


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Local Government In The Philippines Government of the Philippines Decentralization