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 1 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 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 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.
July 7, 1975: Region XII created and minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions.
July 25, 1975: Regions IX and XII declared as Autonomous Regions in Western and Central Mindanao
respectively.
August 21, 1975: Region IX divided into Sub-Region IX-A and Sub-Region IX-B. Minor reorganization of
some Mindanao regions.
November 7, 1975: Metropolitan Manila created.
June 2, 1978: Metropolitan Manila declared as the National Capital Region.
July 15, 1987: Cordillera Administrative Region created.
August 1, 1989: Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) created. Region XII reverted to an
administrative region.
October 23, 1989: First creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region. 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).
February 23, 1995: Region XIII (Caraga) created and minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions.
Sultan Kudarat transferred to Region XI.
1997: Minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions.
December 22, 1997: Second creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region. Ratification rejected by residents
in a plebiscite.
December 18, 1998: Sultan Kudarat returned to Region XII.
March 31, 2001: ARMM expanded.
September 19, 2001: Most Mindanao regions reorganized and some renamed.
 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.
May 23, 2005: Palawan transferred from Region IV-B to Region VI; Mimaropa renamed to Mimaro.
August 19, 2005: Transfer of Palawan to Region VI held in abeyance.
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.
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).
August 9, 2017: Executive Order No. 38 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte abolishing the Negros
Island Region.

Administrative regions
As of August 2017, the Philippines comprises 17 administrative regions, with one being autonomous. 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
Location Region Island Group Regional Center

National Capital
Luzon Manila
Region

Ilocos Region Luzon San Fernando

Cordillera
Luzon Baguio
Administrative Region
Cagayan Valley Luzon Tuguegarao

Central Luzon Luzon San Fernando

CALABARZON Luzon Calamba

MIMAROPA Luzon Calapan

Bicol Region Luzon Legazpi

Western Visayas Visayas Iloilo City

 Central Visayas Visayas Cebu City

Eastern Visayas VIsayas Tacloban

Zamboanga Peninsula Mindanao Pagadian

Northern Mindanao Mindanao Cagayan De Oro

Davao Region Mindanao Davao City

SOCCSKSARGEN Mindanao Koronadal

 Caraga Region Mindanao Butuan

Autonomous Region
Mindanao Cotabato City
in Muslim Mindanao