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Local government units


The Philippines has four main classes of elected administrative divisions, often lumped together as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest division:

Beyond the above divisions, there other divisions that are frequently mentioned but differ in significant ways. Specifically, they do not have separate governments or independent budgets. The national government groups provinces and independent cities into national government regions, e.g. Metro Manila or Region VI. Also. a barangay may be informally or formally sub-divided into sitios and puroks. Neither the national government's regions nor a barangay's sitios or puroks have elected leaders or government branches.

Other divisions exist for specific narrower purposes:

The Philippines is divided into provinces and independent cities. Provinces in turn are divided into component cities and municipalities. All independent cities, component cities and municipalities are divided into barangays.

All these (provinces, cities and municipalities, and barangays) elect their own legislatures and executives and are called collectively "local government units" or LGUs. There is also a single autonomous region, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is composed of provinces and independent cities and has its own elected government.

The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is an autonomous region. Unlike other administrative regions, autonomous regions have additional political power, and have a regional governor and assembly. In addition, the constitution allows for the creation of autonomous region in the Cordillera Central. However, only the ARMM has been approved by voters in a plebiscite. Voters in the Cordilleras have rejected autonomy in 1990 and 1998; hence the Cordillera Administrative Region remains as a regular administrative region with no added powers or officials.


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