Regions of the

Philippines

In the Philippines, regions (Filipino:

rehiyon), (ISO 3166-2:PH) are
administrative divisions that serve
primarily to organize the provinces
(Filipino: lalawigan) of the country for
administrative convenience. Currently, the
archipelagic republic of the Philippines is
divided into 17 regions (16 administrative
and one autonomous). Most national
government offices provide services
through their regional branches instead of
having direct provincial offices. These
regional offices are usually (but not
always) in the city designated as the
regional center.

The regions themselves do not possess a

separate local government, with the
exception of the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,
which has an elected regional parliament
and chief minister. The Cordillera
Administrative Region was originally
intended to be autonomous (Cordillera
Autonomous Region), but due to two failed
plebiscites, its tentative administrative
region status has been extended
indefinitely.

History
Regions first came to existence in on
September 24, 1972, when the provinces
of the Philippines were organized into
eleven regions under Presidential Decree
№ 1 as part of the Integrated
Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand
Marcos.

Since that time, other regions have been

created and some provinces have been
transferred from one region to another.
June 22, 1973: Pangasinan was
transferred from Region III to Region I.[1]
July 7, 1975: Region XII created and
minor reorganization of some Mindanao
regions.[2]
July 25, 1975: Regions IX and XII
declared as Autonomous Regions in
Western and Central Mindanao
respectively.[3]
August 21, 1975: Region IX divided into
Sub-Region IX-A and Sub-Region IX-B.
Minor reorganization of some Mindanao
regions.[4]
November 7, 1975: Metropolitan Manila
created.[5]
June 2, 1978: Metropolitan Manila
declared as the National Capital
Region.[6]
July 15, 1987: Cordillera Administrative
Region created.[7]
August 1, 1989: Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) created.[8]
Region XII reverted to an administrative
region.
October 23, 1989: First creation of
Cordillera Autonomous Region.[9]
Ratification rejected by residents in a
plebiscite.
October 12, 1990: Executive Order 429
issued by President Corazon Aquino to
reorganize the Mindanao regions but the
reorganization never happened (possibly
due to lack of government funds).[10]
February 23, 1995: Region XIII (Caraga)
created and minor reorganization of
some Mindanao regions. Sultan Kudarat
transferred to Region XI.[11]
1997: Minor reorganization of some
Mindanao regions.
December 22, 1997: Second creation of
Cordillera Autonomous Region.[12]
Ratification rejected by residents in a
plebiscite.
December 18, 1998: Sultan Kudarat
returned to Region XII.[13]
March 31, 2001: ARMM expanded.[14]
September 19, 2001: Most Mindanao
regions reorganized and some
renamed.[15]
May 17, 2002: Region IV-A (Calabarzon)
and Region IV-B (Mimaropa) created
from the former Region IV (Southern
Tagalog) region. Aurora transferred to
Region III.[16]
May 23, 2005: Palawan transferred from
Region IV-B to Region VI; Mimaropa
renamed to Mimaro.[17]
August 19, 2005: Transfer of Palawan to
Region VI held in abeyance.[18]
May 29, 2015: Negros Island Region
(NIR) created. Negros Occidental and
Bacolod from Region VI and Negros
Oriental from Region VII transferred to
form new region.[19]
July 17, 2016: Republic Act No. 10879
established the Southwestern Tagalog
Region (MIMAROPA Region) from the
former Region IV-B (in effect merely a
renaming and discontinuation of the
"Region IV-B" designation since no
boundary changes were involved).[20]
August 9, 2017: Executive Order No. 38
was signed by President Rodrigo
 Duterte abolishing the Negros Island
Region.[21]
January 25, 2019: Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(BARMM) created replacing the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM) after the Republic Act no. 11054
or the Bangsamoro Organic Law was
"deemed ratified" on January 25, 2019
following the January 21
plebiscite.[22][23][24]

List of regions
Administrative regions
Map indicating the regions and provinces of the
Philippines

As of January 2019, the Philippines

comprises 17 administrative regions, with
one being autonomous.[25] These regions
are geographically organized into the three
island groups of Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao.
The names of regions Calabarzon,
Mimaropa, and Soccsksargen are
acronyms signifying their component
provinces and cities; and are capitalized in
official government documents.

Table of regions

Component local government units: the

data column is limited to primary LGUs,
which pertains to component provinces,
highly urbanized cities and independent
component cities, as well as the
independent municipality of Pateros. All
city names, except those under the
National Capital Region, are italicized.
Location: the location map column can
be sorted from North-to-South, West-to-
East.
 Region
Island
Location (regional PSGC[26]
group
designation)

National 14 Luzon
Capital Region
(Region XIV -
NCR[28])
 Ilocos Region 01 Luzon
(Region I)

Cordillera 15 Luzon
Administrative
Region
(Region XV - CAR)
Cagayan Valley 02 Luzon
(Region II)

Central Luzon 03 Luzon

(Region III)
 Southern 04 Luzon
Tagalog
Mainland
(Region IV-A -
CALABARZON)

Southwestern 17 Luzon
Tagalog Region
 (Region
XVII/MIMAROPA
Region[31])

Bicol Region 05 Luzon

(Region V)

Western Visayas 06 Visaya

(Region VI)
Central Visayas 07 Visaya
(Region VII)
Eastern Visayas 08 Visaya
(Region VIII)

Zamboanga 09 Mindan
Peninsula
(Region IX)
 Northern 10 Mindan
Mindanao
(Region X)

Davao Region 11 Mindan

(Region XI)
SOCCSKSARGEN 12 Mindan
(Region XII)

Caraga Region 13 Mindan

(Region XIII)

Bangsamoro 16 Mindan
 Autonomous
Region
in Muslim
Mindanao
(Region XVI -
BARMM)[B]

a. ^ Land area figures are the sum of each r

Statistical Coordination Board (Philippin
Bangsamoro Development Plan Integrat
b. ^ Following the Bangsamoro plebiscite o
Mindanao is set to be superseded in Feb
cities already in the ARMM as well as su

Judicial regions
As far as the judiciary is concerned,
specifically the first and second level
courts, the country is divided into judicial
regions as provided by Batas Pambansa
Bilang 129. The coverage of these judicial
regions generally coincides with that of
the administrative regions in the Executive
branch of government.

Proposed regions
Cordillera Autonomous Region[36]
(proposed to convert the Cordillera
Administrative Region into an
autonomous region)
Samar Administrative Region[37]
 Bangsasug[38][39][40][41] (proposed to
separate the Sulu Archipelago from the
mainland portion of Bangsamoro)

Defunct regions
The following are regions that no longer
exist, listed along with their current status:

Southern Tagalog (Region IV, now

divided into CALABARZON and
MIMAROPA)
Western Mindanao (renamed as
Zamboanga Peninsula, still designated
as Region IX)
Central Mindanao (now mostly
SOCCSKSARGEN, still designated as
 Region XII)
Southern Mindanao (renamed as Davao
Region, still designated as Region XI)
Negros Island Region (abolished;
Negros Occidental reverted to Western
Visayas and Negros Oriental to Central
Visayas)
Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (succeeded by the
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao)

See also
Super regions of the Philippines
ISO 3166-2:PH
 Federalism in the Philippines
List of regions of the Philippines by GDP

References
1. "Presidential Decree № 224" .
Retrieved November 5, 2016.
2. "Presidential Decree No. 742;
Restructuring the Regional
Organization of Mindanao, Basilan,
Sulu and Tawi-Tawi" . The Lawphil
Project. July 7, 1975. Retrieved June 6,
2015.
3. "Presidential Decree No. 1618;
Implementing the Organization of the
Sangguniang Pampook and the
 Lupong Tagapagpaganap ng Pook in
Region IX and Region XII and for Other
Purposes" . The Lawphil Project. July
25, 1975. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
4. "Presidential Decree No. 773;
Amending Presidential Decree No. 742
Restructuring the Regional
Organization of Mindanao and Dividing
Region IX into Two Sub-regions" . The
Lawphil Project. August 21, 1975.
Retrieved June 6, 2015.
5. "Presidential Decree No. 824; Creating
the Metropolitan Manila and the
Metropolitan Manila Commission and
for Other Purposes" . The Lawphil
 Project. November 7, 1975. Retrieved
June 6, 2015.
6. "Presidential Decree No. 1396, s. 1978;
Creating the Department of Human
Settlements and the Human
Settlement Development Corporation,
Appropriation Funds Therefor, and
Accordingly Amending Certain
Presidential Decrees" . Official Gazette
of the Republic of the Philippines.
Retrieved September 22, 2015.
7. "Executive Order No. 220; Creating a
Cordillera Administrative Region,
Appropriating Funds Therefor and for
 Other Purposes" . The Lawphil Project.
July 15, 1987. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
8. "Republic Act No. 6734; An Act
Providing for an Organic Act for the
Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao" . The Lawphil Project.
August 1, 1989. Retrieved June 6,
2015.
9. "Republic Act No. 6766; An Act
Providing for an Organic Act for the
Cordillera Autonomous Region" . The
Lawphil Project. October 23, 1989.
Retrieved June 6, 2015.
10. "Executive Order No. 429 s. 1990;
Providing for the Reorganization of the
 Administrative Regions in Mindanao,
and for Other Purposes" . The Lawphil
Project. October 12, 1990. Retrieved
June 6, 2015.
11. "Republic Act No. 7901; An Act
Creating Region XIII to be Known as
the Caraga Administrative Region, and
for Other Purposes" . Chan Robles
Virtual Law Library. February 23, 1995.
Retrieved June 6, 2015.
12. "Republic Act No. 8438; An Act to
Establish the Cordillera Autonomous
Region" . The Lawphil Project.
December 22, 1997. Retrieved June 6,
2015.
13. "Republic Act No. 8744; An Act
Repealing Section 3 of Republic Act
No 7901 and to Return the Province of
Sultan Kudarat to Region XII and for
Other Purposes" . The Lawphil Project.
December 18, 1998. Retrieved June 6,
2015.
14. "Republic Act No. 9054; An Act to
Strengthen and Expand the Organic
Act for the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao, Amending for the
Purpose Republic Act No. 6734,
Entitled "An Act Providing for the
Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao," as Amended" . The
 Lawphil Project. March 31, 2001.
Retrieved June 6, 2015.
15. "Executive Order No. 36;Providing for
the Reorganization of the
Administrative Regions in Mindanao
and for Other Purposes" . The Lawphil
Project. September 19, 2001. Retrieved
June 6, 2015.
16. "Executive Order No. 103; Dividing
Region IV into Region IV-A and Region
IV-B, Transferring the Province of
Aurora to Region III and for Other
Purposes" . The Lawphil Project. May
17, 2002. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
17. "Executive Order No. 429; Providing for
the Reorganization of Administrative
Region VI to Include the Province of
Palawan and Puerto Princesa City" .
The Lawphil Project. May 23, 2005.
Retrieved June 6, 2015.
18. "Administrative Order No. 129;
Directing the Department of the
Interior and Local Government to Hold
in Abeyance the Implementation of
Executive Order No. 429 (s. 2005)
Pending Its Submission of an
Implementation Plan and Its
Subsequent Approval By the Office of
the President" . Philippine Statistics
Authority. August 19, 2005. Archived
 from the original on February 19,
2006. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
19. "Executive Order No. 183, s. 2015;
Creating a Negros Island Region and
for Other Purposes" . Official Gazette
(Philippines). May 29, 2015. Retrieved
June 6, 2015.
20. "An Act establishing the Southwestern
Tagalog Region, to be known as the
MIMAROPA Region" . July 17, 2016.
Retrieved January 4, 2017.
21. "BREAKING: President Rodrigo Duterte
issues E.O. 38, which revokes the
creation of Negros Island Region" .
 CNN Philippines. August 9, 2017.
Retrieved August 9, 2017.
22. "Comelec ratifies Bangsamoro Organic
Law" . BusinessMirror. Retrieved
2019-02-06.
23. Depasupil, William; Reyes, Dempsey
(2019-01-23). " 'Yes' vote prevails in 4
of 5 provinces" . The Manila Times.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
24. Galvez, Daphne (2019-01-22). "Zubiri:
Overwhelming 'yes' vote for BOL
shows Mindanao shedding its history
of conflict" . Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Retrieved 2019-01-26.
25. List of Regions Archived 2008-10-27
at WebCite, National Statistical
Coordination Board'"'.
26. "Philippine Standard Geographic
Codes as of 31 December 2015" .
PSGC Interactive. Philippine Statistics
Authority. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
27. "Highlights of the Philippine
Population 2015 Census of
Population" . 2015 Census of
Population. Philippine Statistics
Authority. 19 May 2016. Retrieved
20 May 2016.
28. The National Capital Region receives
the semi-official numerical designation
 14.
29. An independent component city, not
under the jurisdiction of any provincial
government.
30. A highly urbanized city, independent
from any province.
31. As the newest region, it receives the
semi-official numerical designation 17.
"MIMAROPA Region" is also a
designation.
32. A component city, part of the province
of Basilan, but whose regional
services are provided by the offices of
Region IX.
33. "PSGC Interactive; List of Provinces" .
Philippine Statistics Authority.
Retrieved 3 April 2016.
34. "PSGC Interactive; List of Cities" .
Philippine Statistics Authority.
Retrieved 7 April 2016.
35. For provinces in the ARMM:
"Bangsamoro Development Plan
Integrative Report, Chapter 10" (PDF).
Bangsamoro Development Agency.
2015. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
36. "Cordillera Solons expressed views on
regional autonomy" . National
Economic and Development Authority -
Cordillera Administrative Region.
 August 12, 2013. Retrieved
February 28, 2015.
37. "Bishops call for separate Samar
administrative region" . GMA News.
June 15, 2016. Retrieved
September 18, 2017.
38. "Sulu Sultanate, Bangsa Sug push
revision of BBL" . Sun-Star. May 10,
2018. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
39. "10,000 people benefit from Bangsa
Sug Iftar convention" .
PressReader.com (The Mindanao
Examiner). May 25, 2018. Retrieved
August 31, 2018.
40. "Why is autonomy tied to peace
talks?" . Inquirer.net. August 18, 2015.
Retrieved August 31, 2018.
41. "10,000 people to benefit from Bangsa
Sug Iftar Caravan in Zamboanga City" .
Mindanao Examiner. May 23, 2018.
Retrieved August 31, 2018.

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