Local government in the Philippines


Officially local government in the Philippines, often called local government units or LGUs, are divided into three levels – provinces and independent cities; component cities and municipalities; and barangays. In one area, above provinces and independent cities, is an autonomous region, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Below barangays in some cities and municipalities are sitios and puroks. All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their own executives and legislatures. Sitios and puroks are often led by elected barangay councilors.
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 local governments "shall enjoy local autonomy", and in which the Philippine president exercises "general supervision". Congress enacted the Local Government Code of the Philippines in 1991 to "provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization with effective mechanisms of recall, initiative, and referendum, 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."

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, which replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. 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 and Marawi City in Lanao del Sur. 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 and 1998, 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 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.

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.

Cities and municipalities

in the Philippines is divided into three – independent cities, component cities, and municipalities. Several cities across the country are "independent cities" which means that they are not governed by a province, even though like Iloilo City 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 which was separated from Rizal to form Metro Manila.
Cities and municipalities are governed by mayors and legislatures, which are called the Sangguniang Panlungsod in cities and the Sangguniang Bayan 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 sitios and puroks 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, composed of barangay captain, the Barangay Kagawads and the SK chairman. The SK chairman also leads a separate assembly for youth, the Sangguniang Kabataan or SK.

Offices

Local governments have two branches: executive and legislative. All courts in the Philippines are under the Supreme Court of the Philippines and therefore there are no local-government controlled judicial branches. Nor do local governments have any prosecutors or public defenders, as those are under the jurisdiction of the national government.
The executive branch is composed of the regional governor for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, governor for the provinces, mayor for the cities and municipalities, and the barangay captain for the barangays.

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.
Level of governmentLegislatureCompositionHead
Autonomous regionParliament
  • total of 80 members:
  • *40 seats in a party-list system of allocation
  • *32 seats, 1 elected from each district
  • *8 reserved seats:
  • **2 from non-Moro indigenous peoples
  • **2 from settler communities
  • **1 for women
  • **1 for youth
  • **1 for traditional leaders
  • **1 for the Ulama
Speaker
ProvinceSangguniang Panlalawigan
  • varies, as of 2019:
  • *Cavite: 16 SP members, 2 elected from each district
  • *Cebu: 14 SP members, 2 elected from each district
  • *Batangas, Isabela, Negros Occidental and Pangasinan: 12 SP members, 2 elected from each district
  • *All other provinces of the first and second income classes: 10 SP members, with seat distribution among districts varying.
  • *Provinces of the third and fourth income classes: 8 SP members, with seat distribution among districts varying.
  • *Provinces of the fifth and sixth income classes: 6 SP members, 3 per district
  • President of the provincial chapter of the Liga ng mga Barangay
  • President of the provincial chapter of the League of Councilors
  • President of the provincial federation of the Sangguniang Kabataan
  • Sectoral representatives
  • Vice Governor
    CitySangguniang Panlungsod
  • varies, as of 2019:
  • *Manila and Quezon City: 36 councilors, 6 elected from each district
  • *Davao City: 24 councilors, 8 elected from each district
  • *Antipolo, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City, Makati, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Taguig, Zamboanga City: 16 councilors, 8 elected from each district
  • *Bacoor, Calbayog, San Jose del Monte, and all other cities in Metro Manila: 12 councilors, 6 elected from each district
  • *Samal, Sorsogon City: 12 councilors, 4 elected from each district
  • *Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas City, Biñan, Calamba, Dasmariñas, General Santos, Iligan, Iloilo City, Imus, Lapu-Lapu, Lipa, San Fernando, Tuguegarao: 12 councilors, elected at-large
  • *All other cities: 10 councilors, elected at-large
  • President of the city chapter of the Liga ng mga Barangay
  • President of the city federation of the Sangguniang Kabataan
  • Sectoral representatives
  • Vice Mayor
    MunicipalitySangguniang Bayan
  • varies, as of 2016:
  • * Pateros, Metro Manila: 12 councilors, 6 elected from each district
  • * All other municipalities: 8 councilors, elected at-large
  • President of the municipal chapter of the Liga ng mga Barangay
  • President of the municipal federation of the Sangguniang Kabataan
  • Sectoral representatives
  • Vice Mayor
    BarangaySangguniang Barangay
  • 7 members elected at-large
  • Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson
  • Barangay captain
    BarangaySangguniang Kabataan
  • 7 members elected at-large
  • Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson

    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.
    LGUOfficialMinimum age
    Autonomous regionWa'lī40 years old on election day
    Autonomous regionChief minister25 years old on election day
    Autonomous regionMember of parliamentSame as chief minister
    ProvincesGovernor23 years old on election day
    ProvincesVice governorSame as governor
    ProvincesSangguniang Panlalawigan memberSame as governor
    Highly urbanized citiesMayorSame as governor
    Highly urbanized citiesVice mayorSame as governor
    Highly urbanized citiesSangguniang Panlungsod member Same as governor
    Independent component and component citiesMayor21 years old on election day
    Independent component and component citiesVice mayorSame as independent component and component city mayor
    Independent component and component citiesSangguniang Panlungsod member Same as independent component and component city mayor
    MunicipalitiesMayorSame as independent component and component city mayor
    MunicipalitiesVice mayorSame as independent component and component city mayor
    MunicipalitiesSangguniang Bayan member Same as independent component and component city mayor
    BarangayPunong Barangay18 years old on election day
    BarangayBarangay kagawadSame as Punong Barangay
    BarangaySangguniang Kabataan chairperson18 to 24 years old on election day
    BarangaySangguniang Kabataan memberSame as Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson*
    *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 21 offices in a government, whether it is municipal, city or provincial. There are some mandatory and optional offices to the government.
    OfficeHeadMunicipalityCityProvince
    Office of the Secretary to the SanggunianSecretary to the Sanggunian
    Treasurer's OfficeTreasurer
    Assessor's OfficeAssessor
    Accounting OfficeAccountant
    Budget OfficeBudget Officer
    Planning and Development OfficePlanning and Development Coordinator
    Engineer's OfficeEngineer
    Health OfficeHealth Officer
    Office of the Civil RegistryCivil RegistrarX
    Office of the AdministratorAdministrator
    Office of the Legal ServicesLegal Officer?
    Office of Agricultural Services/Office of the AgriculturistAgriculturist??
    Social Welfare and Development OfficeSocial Welfare and Development Officer
    Environment and Natural Resources OfficeEnvironment and Natural Resources Officer???
    Office of Architectural Planning and DesignArchitect???
    Office of Public InformationInformation Officer???
    Office for the Development of Cooperatives/Cooperatives Development OfficeCooperatives OfficerX??
    Population OfficePopulation Officer???
    Veterinary Office/Office of Veterinary ServicesVeterinarianX
    Public Safety OfficePublic Safety Officer???
    General Services OfficeGeneral Services OfficerX

    Legend:
    Mandatory
    ?Optional
    XNot Applicable
    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:
    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 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:
    Local governmentAreaPopulationIncomeLegislative bodies that can create, merge, abolish or substantially alter the boundaries of the LGU
    Province2,000 square kilometers*250,000*₱20 million for the last two consecutive years based on 1991 constant prices
    • Congress^
    City100 square kilometers*150,000*₱100 million for the last two consecutive years based on 2000 constant prices
  • Congress^
  • Municipality50 square kilometers25,000₱2.5 million for the last two consecutive years based on 1991 constant prices
  • Congress
  • ARMM Regional Assembly
  • Barangay-5,000 2,000 -
    • Congress
    • ARMM Regional Assembly
    • Sangguniang Panlalawigan, with recommendation from the concerned Sangguniang Bayan required
    • Sangguniang Panlungsod
    *either area or population; meeting only one of these requirements is sufficient

    ^The ARMM Regional Assembly was conferred by Congress the power to create or modify lower-level LGUs under its jurisdiction, including provinces and cities. However, the Supreme Court's decision on the unconstitutionality of the now-defunct province of Shariff Kabunsuan has effectively confined the regional assembly's powers to creating or modifying only municipalities and barangays.