Regions of the Philippines
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Image:Ph luzviminda.png Image:Ph regions and provinces.png A region (Filipino: Rehiyon) is a administrative subdivision in the Philippines. As of 2002, there are 17 of them and they are further subdivided into 79 provinces (lalawigan). Regions are generally organized to group provinces that have the same cultural and ethnological characteristics.
The provinces are actually the primary political subdivision. They are grouped into regions for administrative convenience. Most government offices establish regional offices instead of individual provincial offices, usually in the city designated as the regional capital.
The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has an elected regional assembly and governor. The Cordillera Administrative Region was originally intended to be autonomous (Cordillera Autonomous Region), but objections from Congress reduced it to a regular administrative region.
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The regions
As of 2002, the Philippines consists of 17 regions. The regions are geographically combined into the three island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Following is a list of the regions in their island groupings. To get overviews of the regions, see the respective articles on the island groups.
The names of CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and SOCCSKSARGEN are capitalized because they are acronyms that stand for their component provinces or cities.
Luzon
- Ilocos Region (Region I)
- Cagayan Valley (Region II)
- Central Luzon (Region III)
- CALABARZON (Region IV-A)
- MIMAROPA (Region IV-B)
- Bicol Region (Region V)
- Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
- National Capital Region (NCR) (Metro Manila)
Visayas
- Western Visayas (Region VI)
- Central Visayas (Region VII)
- Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)
Mindanao
- Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX)
- Northern Mindanao (Region X)
- Davao Region (Region XI)
- SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII)
- Caraga (Region XIII)
- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
History
- September 24, 1972 - The provinces of the Philippines are organised into eleven regions.
- July 7, 1975 - Region XII created and minor reorganisation of some Mindanao regions.
- August 21, 1975 - Region IX divided into Sub-Region IX-A' and Sub-Region IX-B. Minor reorganisation of some Mindanao regions.
- November 7, 1975 - National Capital Region created.
- August 1, 1989 - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao created.
- October 23, 1989 - Cordillera Administrative Region created.
- October 12, 1990 - Executive Order issued to reorganise the Mindanao regions but the reorganisation never happened (possibly due to lack of government funds).
- February 23, 1995 - Region XIII (Caraga) created and minor reorganisation of some Mindanao regions.
- 1997 - Minor reorganisation of some Mindanao regions.
- September 19, 2001 - Most Mindanao regions reorganised and some renamed.
- May 17, 2002 - Region IV-A (CALABARZON) and Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) created from the former Region IV (Southern Tagalog) region.
- May 23, 2005 - Minor reorganisation of some Luzon regions.
