The Philippines is divided into 17 administrative regions that coordinate government services across local units. Most national government offices provide services through regional branches rather than direct provincial or city offices. Regions were first established in 1972 and the boundaries and number of regions has changed over time, with the most recent change being the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2019.
The Philippines is divided into 17 administrative regions that coordinate government services across local units. Most national government offices provide services through regional branches rather than direct provincial or city offices. Regions were first established in 1972 and the boundaries and number of regions has changed over time, with the most recent change being the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2019.
The Philippines is divided into 17 administrative regions that coordinate government services across local units. Most national government offices provide services through regional branches rather than direct provincial or city offices. Regions were first established in 1972 and the boundaries and number of regions has changed over time, with the most recent change being the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2019.
Philippines, regions (Filipino: rehiyon; ISO 3166-2:PH) are administrative divisions that
primarily serve to coordinate planning and organize national government services across multiple local government units (LGUs). Most national government offices provide services through their regional branches instead of having direct provincial or city offices. Regional offices are usually but not necessarily located in the city designated as the regional center. As of 2019, the Philippines is divided into 17 regions. 16 of these are mere administrative groupings, each provided by the president of the Philippines with a regional development council (RDC) – in the case of the National Capital Region (Metro Manila), an additional metropolitan authority serves as the coordinating and policy-making body. Only one, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has an elected government and parliament to which the Congress of the Philippines has delegated certain powers and responsibilities. Regions first came to existence on September 24, 1972, when the provinces of the Philippines were organized into eleven regions under Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of the former 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] June 11, 1978: Regional center of Region IX transferred from Jolo, Sulu to Zamboanga City.[7] July 15, 1987: Cordillera Administrative Region created.[8] August 1, 1989: Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) created.[9] Region XII reverted to an administrative region. October 23, 1989: First creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region.[10] 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).[11] February 23, 1995: Region XIII (Caraga) created and minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions. Sultan Kudarat transferred to Region XI.[12] 1997: Minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions. December 22, 1997: Second creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region.[13] Ratification rejected by residents in a plebiscite. December 18, 1998: Sultan Kudarat returned to Region XII.[14] March 31, 2001: ARMM expanded.[15] September 19, 2001: Most Mindanao regions reorganized and some renamed. [16] 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.[17] May 23, 2005: Palawan transferred from Region IV-B to Region VI; Mimaropa renamed to Mimaro.[18] August 19, 2005: Transfer of Palawan to Region VI held in abeyance.[19] 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.[20] 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). [21] August 9, 2017: Executive Order No. 38 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte abolishing the Negros Island Region.[22] 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.[23][24][25]
Region I – Ilocos Region
Region II – Cagayan Valley Region III – Central Luzon Region IV-A – CALABARZON MIMAROPA Region Region V – Bicol Region Region VI – Western Visayas Region VII – Central Visayas Region VIII – Eastern Visayas Region IX – Zamboanga Peninsula Region X – Northern Mindanao Region XI – Davao Region Region XII – SOCCSKSARGEN Region XIII – Caraga NCR – National Capital Region CAR – Cordillera Administrative Region BARMM – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao