| Purok | |
|---|---|
 Welcome arch of a purok | |
| Category | Zone |
| Location | Philippines |
| Found in | Barangay |
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|---|
 Philippines portal |
Apurok (English:district[1] or zone) is an informal division within abarangay in thePhilippines.[2][3] While not officially considered alocal government unit (LGU), apurok often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay.[4]Puroks are usually numbered (e.g. Purok 2, Purok B, Purok 7-C) but some have names.
Apurok is typically composed of twenty to fifty or more households, depending on the particular geographical location and cluster of houses.[4] The termpurok is often applied to a neighborhood (zone) within an urbanized barangay, or a portion (district) of a less densely populated, but still relatively geographically compact, barangay. This contrasts with thesitio, which is usually a cluster of households (hamlet) in a more dispersed, rural barangay.
If created and given a mandate by an ordinance of the barangay, municipality, or city, apurok could perform government functions under the coordination and supervision of their local officials.[4] Sometimes, abarangay councilor may be recognized as the leader of theirpurok.[5]
New barangays are often created by officially enumerating whichpuroks and/or sitios are included within the territory.[6][7] On rare occasions, apurok may also be enumerated in the creation of amunicipality, as in the case ofShariff Saydona Mustapha,Maguindanao del Sur, where thepuroks of Libutan East and Pagatin I were directly named as one of the constituent parts of the new municipality.[8] These twopuroks were later recognized as full-fledged barangays by thePhilippine Statistics Authority in early 2010.[9]
Thepurok system gained international acclaim when theCamotes Islands ofCebu province utilized it for disaster preparedness in the onslaught ofTyphoon Haiyan in 2013, allowing the island group's community to achieve a zero casualty record amid the property devastation it otherwise suffered alongside other areas within the "Yolanda corridor". The Camotes town of San Francisco received the Sasakawa Award from theUnited Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for this organized system, two years prior to Yolanda.[10]
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