Cities of the Philippines

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A city (lungsod, sometimes siyudad, in Filipino and Tagalog) is a tier of local government in the Philippines. Cities are in the same hierarchical level as municipalities, but under the Local Government Code of 1991, cities are given special treatment in terms of bigger share from the internal revenue allotment (IRA) which forms part of the city's budget. Cities, like municipalities, are composed of barangays and are governed by elective officials such as Mayor as Local Chief Executive, Vice-Mayor, and councilors as well as appointive officials heading the different local offices under them.

A number of cities in the country act independently from any province and are self-governing as decreed by Philippine Law through an Act of Congress. They are classified as highly-urbanized cities. A significant number of these highly urbanized cities are in Metro Manila. The second type of cities are component cities, which are part of a province and are thus governed as part of the latter. They do not have autonomy or representation in the Philippine Congress, as Chartered Cities do. They depend on their provincial government for support and representation. Examples are Tarlac City in Tarlac province, and Palayan City, in Nueva Ecija province, and Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province. There are, however, some component cities that are somewhat independent, like Ormoc City in Leyte.

Quezon City, in Metro Manila is the most populous city in the Philippines with over 2,000,000 residents. Davao City, is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of land area, occupying more than 2,500 square kilometers.

There are two metropolitan areas in the Philippines. Metro Manila is the largest conurbation or urban agglomeration in the country. It is composed of the city of Manila plus 15 neighboring cities and a municipality. The second is Metro Cebu in Cebu Province. It is centered on Cebu City, the provincial capital plus 12 surrounding cities and municipalities.

[edit] Classification

[edit] City classification

Prior to the enactment of the Local Government Code in 1991, all cities were considered Chartered cities. Chartered cities are those that have been created by an Act of Congress and are run as an independent government with the Mayor as its Chief Executive, a Vice-Mayor, City Council, one Congressional District and Representative per every 250,000 population count, a Police force, a common seal, and the power to take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and disposes of real and personal property for the general interests of the City, condemn private property for public use (eminent domain), contract and be contracted with, sue and exercise all the powers conferred to it by Congress.

The Local Government Code of 1991 reclassified all cities into one of three categories:

Highly Urbanized Cities - Cities with a minimum population of two hundred thousand (200,000) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office, and with the latest annual income of at least Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00) based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the city treasurer. There are 32 highly urbanized cities in the Philippines.

Independent Component Cities - Cities whose charters prohibit their voters from voting for provincial elective officials. Independent component cities shall be independent of the province. There are four (4) independent component cities in the Philippines.

Component Cities - Cities which do not meet the above requirements shall be considered component cities of the province in which they are geographically located. If a component city is located within the boundaries of two (2) or more provinces, such city shall be considered a component of the province of which it used to be a municipality. There are 100 component citites in the Philippines.

Definitions taken from National Statistical Coordination Board.

[edit] Income classification

Cities are classified according to average annual income based on the previous 3 calendar years. [1]

• 1st class - P300 million or more
• 2nd class - P240 million or more but less than P 300 million
• 3rd class - P180 million or more but less than P240 million
• 4th class - P120 million or more but less than P180 million
• 5th class - P60 million or more but less than P120 million
• 6th class - Below P 60 million

[edit] League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP)

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) is a non-profit organization and is not a government agency. It has a membership of 117 cities and was founded in 1988. The organization was formed to help coordinate efforts to improve governance and local autonomy and to tackle issues such as preserving the environment and improving public works.

[edit] List of Cities

For a full detailed sortable list, including population, area and density figures, please see List of cities in the Philippines.

As of September 5, 2007, there were 136 cities in the Philippines.

[edit] Largest cities

The following is a list of the 10 largest cities in the country in terms of population, ordered according to their 2007 census population.

Rank	City	Population (2007 census)	Population	Image	Description
1.	Quezon City	2,679,450	[1]		This is the former capital of the country (1948-1976); largest city in Metro Manila and the Philippines
2.	Manila City	1,660,719	[1]		This is the Capital of the country (from 1571-1948 and 1976-present).
3.	Caloocan City	1,378,856	[1]		This was called "The Nice City"
4.	Davao City	1,363,337	[2]		This was called "The Land of Promise"
5.	Cebu City	798,809	[3]		This was called "The Queen City of the South"
6.	Zamboanga City	774,407	[4]		This was called "the City of Flowers"; branded as Asia's Latin City
7.	Pasig City	617,301	[3]		"One of the top business districts in the metropolis"
8.	Taguig City	613,343	[3]		This was called "Home of the Global City"
9.	Valenzuela City	568,928	[3]		This was called "The Vibrant City"
10.	Cagayan de Oro City	553,966	[3]		This was called " The City of Golden Friendship"

[edit] Defunct/dissolved cities

• Dagu-cala City (1947) - President Roxas issued Executive Order No. 96 fixing the city limits of Dagupan to include the towns of San Fabian and Calasiao but the residents of Calasiao rejected inclusion into the new city, causing controversy over the election that was held on Nov. 10, 1947. The Dagu-cala dispute was brought before the Supreme Court of the Philippines which subsequently validated the election and ruled that Dagupan became a city on June 20, 1947, when Roxas signed the charter into law.
• Legazpi City (1948-1954) - Legazpi's cityhood was approved on June 18, 1948. Under Republic Act 306, Legazpi was to become a city after the President of the Philippines proclaimed its cityhood. Comprising the present-day territories of Legazpi City and Daraga, the city was dissolved on June 8, 1954 when Legazpi and Daraga were made into separate municipalities. Legazpi eventually became a city on its own on June 12, 1959.
• Basilan City (1948-1973) - formerly part of the city of Zamboanga until it was made a city on its own in 1948. Converted to the province of Basilan in 1973 by President Ferdinand Marcos.
• Rajah Buayan City (1966) - under Republic Act 4413, the then-municipality of General Santos in what was then the unified province of Cotabato was to be formally converted into a city named after Rajah Buayan (a former ruler in Mindanao) on January 1, 1966, provided that majority of qualified voters in the municipality vote in favor of cityhood in a plebiscite. In December 1965 the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) proclaimed the cityhood of Rajah Buayan, with 4,422 people voting for and 3,066 voting against. However, two residents of the new city challenged this by arguing in the courts that the number of people who voted in favor of cityhood did not form a majority in light of the fact that there were 15,727 voters in the city. The court issued an injunction on January 4, 1966 restraining city officers from performing any acts authorized by or pursuant to provisions in RA 4413. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld this decision on October 29, 1966 and declared that the city charter was not accepted by majority of voters, thus rendering RA4413 null and void. The municipality of General Santos would later be converted into a city under the same name in 1968.

[edit] Rejected cityhood

Note: This section only lists attempts that reached the stage where a Republic Act was enacted for the purpose of achieving cityhood.

• Batangas (1965) - A majority of the voters in the then-municipality of Batangas rejected cityhood in a plebiscite conducted on the same day as the 1965 Philippine general elections, as mandated by RA 4586. The city would have been named Laurel City in honor of Jose P. Laurel, the president of the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic. The municipality of Batangas would later be converted into a city under the same name in 1969.
• Tarlac (1969) - The city charter of Tarlac (RA 5907) was approved on June 21, 1969. Cityhood was rejected in a plebiscite held on November 11, 1969 by a majority the municipality's voters. Tarlac would later become a city in 1998.
• Ilagan (1999) - Republic Act 8474, which converted Ilagan to a component city of Isabela, was approved on February 2, 1998. However, majority of Ilagan's voters rejected cityhood in a plebiscite held on March 14, 1999.
• Novaliches (1999) - On February 23, 1998 the controversial City Charter of Novaliches (RA 8535) was approved, which sought to create a new city out of the 15 northern barangays of Quezon City. Historically a separate municipality, Novaliches was distributed between Quezon City and northern Caloocan in 1948. In a plebiscite held on October 23, 1999, majority of Quezon City's voting residents rejected the cityhood of Novaliches.
• Meycauayan (2001) - Cityhood was rejected by majority of Meycauayan's voters in a plebiscite that sought to ratify Republic Act 9021. Meycauayan would become a city five years later with the enactment of RA 9356 and its ratification through a plebiscite on December 10, 2006.

[edit] Former names

Note: This section only lists name changes made upon or since cityhood.

• Cagayan de Oro City - the municipality of Cagayan de Misamis was converted to the city of Cagayan de Oro in 1950 by virtue of R.A. 521.
• Lapu-Lapu City - the municipality of Opon was converted to a city named after Lapu-Lapu, hero of the Battle of Mactan in 1961 by virtue of R.A. 3134.
• Marawi City - inaugurated as the City of Dansalan in 1950, renamed to Marawi on June 16, 1956 by virtue of R.A. 1552.
• Ozamiz City - the municipality of Misamis was converted to a city named after José Ozámiz, the first governor of Misamis Occidental, in 1948 by virtue of R.A. 321.
• Pasay City - inaugurated as Rizal City in 1947, reverted to Pasay on June 7, 1950 by virtue of R.A. 437.
• Roxas City - in 1951 the municipality of Capiz was converted to a city named after Manuel A. Roxas, the first president of the Third Philippine Republic and town native by virtue of R.A. 603.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of cities and municipalities in the Philippines

[edit] External links

• League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP)
• Philippine Clean Cities Project
• CityMayors.com article
• Location map of the largest cities (World Gazeteer) (somewhat inaccurate)

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