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In thePhilippines,local government is divided into three levels:provinces andindependent cities, component cities andmunicipalities, andbarangays, all of which are collectively known aslocal government units (LGUs). In some areas, above provinces and independentchartered cities areautonomous regions, such as theBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Some towns and cities remit their revenue to national government and is returned through the national government through a process calledinternal revenue allotment. Below barangays in some cities and municipalities aresitios andpuroks. All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their ownexecutives andlegislatures. Sitios and puroks are often but not necessarily led by an elected barangay councilor.

Provinces and independent cities are organized intonational government regions but those are administrative regions and not separately governed areas with their own elected governments.

According to theConstitution of the Philippines, the local governments "shall enjoy local autonomy", and in which thePhilippine president exercises "general supervision".Congress enacted theLocal Government Code of the Philippines in 1991 to "provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system ofdecentralization with effective mechanisms ofrecall,initiative, andreferendum, allocate among the different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and provide for the qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of local officials, and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of local units."^[1][2] Local government units are under the oversight of theDepartment of the Interior and Local Government, which is an executive department tasked with assisting the president in exercising the power of general supervision.

Autonomous regions have more powers than other local governments. The constitution limits the creation of autonomous regions to Muslim Mindanao andthe Cordilleras but only one autonomous region exists: theBangsamoro, which replaced theAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In 1989, a plebiscite established the ARMM. In 2001,a plebiscite in the ARMM confirmed the previous composition of the autonomous region and addedBasilan (except for the city ofIsabela) andMarawi inLanao del Sur. Isabela City remains a part of the province of Basilan despite rejecting inclusion in the ARMM. In 2019, another plebiscite confirmed the replacement of the ARMM with the Bangsamoro, and added Cotabato City and63 barangays in Cotabato.

A Cordillera Autonomous Region has never been formed because two plebiscites, in1990 and1998, both resulted in just one province supporting autonomy; this led the Supreme Court ruling that autonomous regions should not be composed of just one province.

Each autonomous region has a unique form of government. The ARMM had aregional governor and aregional legislative assembly, mimicking thepresidential system of the national government. The Bangsamoro will have achief minister responsible to parliament, with parliament appointing awa'lī, or a ceremonial governor, in aparliamentary system.

Outside the lone autonomous region, the provinces are the highest-level local government. The provinces are organized into component cities and municipalities. A province is governed by the governor and a legislature known as theSangguniang Panlalawigan.

Municipal government in the Philippines is divided into three – independent cities, component cities, and municipalities (sometimes referred to as towns). Several cities across the country are "independent cities" which means that they are not governed by a province, even though likeIloilo City the provincial capitol might be in the city. Independent city residents do not vote for nor hold provincial offices. Far more cities arecomponent cities and are a part of a province. Municipalities are always a part of a province except forPateros which was separated fromRizal to formMetro Manila.

Cities and municipalities are governed by mayors and legislatures, which are called theSangguniang Panlungsod in cities and theSangguniang Bayan in municipalities.

Every city and municipality in the Philippines is divided into barangays, the smallest of the local government units. Barangays can be further divided intositios andpuroks but those divisions do not have leaders elected in formal elections supervised by the national government.

A barangay's executive is thePunong Barangay or barangay captain and its legislature is theSangguniang Barangay, composed of barangay captain, theBarangay Kagawads (barangay councilors) and theSK chairman. The SK Chairman is the head of Sangguniang Kabataan which is composed of 1 SK Chairperson and 7 SK Kagawads that also leads the assembly for youth, theKatipunan ng Kabataan or KK.

Local governments have two branches:executive andlegislative. All courts in the Philippines are under theSupreme Court of the Philippines and therefore there are no local-government controlledjudicial branches. Nor do local governments have anyprosecutors orpublic defenders, as those are under the jurisdiction of the national government.

The executive branch is composed of theWali as the head of region andChief Minister as the head of government for theBangsamoro, governor for the provinces, mayor for the cities and municipalities, and the barangay captain for the barangays.^[3]

The legislatures review theordinances andresolutions enacted by the legislatures below. Aside from regular andex-officio members, the legislatures above the barangay level also have threesectoral representatives, one each from women, agricultural or industrialworkers, and other sectors.^[3]

All elected officials have 3-year terms, save for the wa'lī which is six years, and can only serve a maximum of three consecutive terms before being ineligible for reelection.^[8]

*a Sangguniang Kabataan official who has surpassed 21 years of age while in office is allowed to serve for the rest of the term.^[3]

There are 44 offices in a government, whether it is municipal, city or provincial. There are some mandatory and optional offices to the government.

Source:Local Government Code of 1991^[11]

Among the social services and facilities that local government should provide, as stipulated in Section 17 of the Local Government Code, are the following:

• facilities and research services for agriculture and fishery activities, which include seedling nurseries, demonstration farms, and irrigation systems;
• health services, which include access to primary health care, maternal and child care, and medicines, medical supplies and equipment;
• social welfare services, which include programs and projects for women, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities, as well as vagrants, beggars,street children, juvenile delinquents, and victims of drug abuse;
• information services, which include job placement information systems and a public library;
• a solid waste disposal system or environmental management system;
• municipal/city/provincial buildings, cultural centers, public parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities and equipment;
• infrastructure facilities such as roads, bridges, school buildings, health clinics, fish ports, water supply systems, seawalls, dikes, drainage and sewerage, and traffic signals and road signs;
• state/local colleges and universities;
• public markets, slaughterhouses, and other local enterprises;
• public cemeteries, memorial parks/gardens, and columbariums;
• tourism facilities and other tourist attractions; and
• sites for police and fire stations and substations and municipal jail.
• water districts

As a matter of principle, higher legislative entities have the power to create, divide, merge, abolish, or substantially alter boundaries of any lower-level local government through a law or ordinance, all subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be conducted by theCommission on Elections (COMELEC) in the local government unit or units directly affected.^[3] The Local Government Code has also set requisites for creating local government units.^[3] A summary can be found in the table below:

• List of primary local government units of the Philippines

• Tigno, Jorge V. (2003)."Economic Viability and Local Governance: The Political Economy of Decentralization in the Philippines". In Yasutami Shimomura (ed.).The Role of Governance in Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 253–315.ISBN 9789812301970.

• Local government in the Philippines
• Government of the Philippines
• Decentralization

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