Regions

How each region was created

The law or order that made each region, and what changed it after, from the law itself.

• CALABARZON

  Created by

  CALABARZON was created as Region IV-A by Executive Order No. 103, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 17 May 2002, which divided Region IV into Region IV-A and Region IV-B.^[7]

• Metro Manila

  Created by

  Metropolitan Manila was declared the National Capital Region of the Philippines by Presidential Decree No. 1396 on 2 June 1978. It had first been put together as a single public corporation under Presidential Decree No. 824 of 7 November 1975.^{[8, 9]}

• Central Luzon

  Created by

  Region III, called the Central Luzon Region, was one of the eleven uniform regions of the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which Presidential Decree No. 1 adopted on 24 September 1972. Presidential Decree No. 224 of 22 June 1973 defined its provinces and cities.^{[10, 11, 12]}

• Central Visayas

  Created by

  Central Visayas (Region VII) was one of the administrative regions set up when Presidential Decree No. 1 of 24 September 1972 adopted the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which divided the country into regions.^[10]

• Bicol Region

  Created by

  The Bicol Region (Region V) was one of the administrative regions set up when Presidential Decree No. 1 of 24 September 1972 adopted the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which divided the country into regions.^[10]

• Davao Region

  Created by

  Presidential Decree No. 742 of 7 July 1975 set out Region XI as one of the regional groupings first established under Presidential Decree No. 1, which the decree amended, naming its provinces and cities with Davao City as regional center.^[13]

• Ilocos Region

  Created by

  Region I, called the Ilocos Region, was one of the eleven uniform regions of the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which Presidential Decree No. 1 adopted on 24 September 1972. Presidential Decree No. 224 of 22 June 1973 restated its provinces and cities.^{[10, 11, 12]}

• Northern Mindanao

  Created by

  Presidential Decree No. 742 of 7 July 1975 set out Region X as one of the regional groupings first established under Presidential Decree No. 1, which the decree amended, naming its provinces and cities with Cagayan de Oro as regional center.^[13]

• Zamboanga Peninsula

  Created by

  Presidential Decree No. 742 of 7 July 1975 set out Region IX as one of the regional groupings first established under Presidential Decree No. 1, which the decree amended, naming its provinces and cities with Jolo as regional center.^[13]

• Negros Island Region

  Created by

  Republic Act No. 12000 (the Negros Island Region Act), approved 11 June 2024, established the Negros Island Region of Negros Occidental including Bacolod City, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.^[14]

• Western Visayas

  Created by

  Western Visayas (Region VI) was one of the administrative regions set up when Presidential Decree No. 1 of 24 September 1972 adopted the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which divided the country into regions.^[10]

• Eastern Visayas

  Created by

  Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) was one of the administrative regions set up when Presidential Decree No. 1 of 24 September 1972 adopted the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which divided the country into regions.^[10]

• Bangsamoro (BARMM)

  Created by

  Republic Act No. 11054, approved 27 July 2018, set up the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to take effect upon ratification by plebiscite; it repealed the Organic Act of the older Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.^[15]

• SOCCSKSARGEN

  Created by

  Presidential Decree No. 742 of 7 July 1975 set out Region XII as one of the regional groupings first established under Presidential Decree No. 1, which the decree amended, naming its provinces and cities with Cotabato City as regional center.^[13]

• Cagayan Valley

  Created by

  Region II, called the Cagayan Valley Region, was one of the eleven uniform regions of the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which Presidential Decree No. 1 adopted on 24 September 1972.^{[10, 11, 16]}

• MIMAROPA

  Created by

  Executive Order No. 103 of 17 May 2002 split Region IV in two, Region IV-A and Region IV-B, and gave Region IV-B the name MIMAROPA, covering Marinduque, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Palawan and Romblon.^[7]

• Caraga

  Created by

  Republic Act No. 7901, approved 23 February 1995, constituted the Agusan and Surigao provinces into Region XIII, to be known as the Caraga Region.^[17]

• Cordillera Administrative Region

  Created by

  The Cordillera Administrative Region was created by Executive Order No. 220, signed by President Corazon Aquino on 15 July 1987.^[18]

How it fits

A region groups provinces and cities so that national agencies can run their offices and keep their statistics region by region. Most regions have no government of their own; Bangsamoro is the one that governs itself, under its own law.

1. 1Island groups3Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao: a grouping, not a government
2. 2Regions18Big areas that group provinces
3. 3Provinces82Each led by a governor
4. 4Cities and municipalities1,642Each led by a mayor
5. 5Barangays42,010The smallest unit, led by a punong barangay (kapitan)

Sources

The list shows each place's own figures: people from the PSA's 2024 census, growth from its 2020 census, land areas from the Land Management Bureau's 2019 masterlist. Every figure's source is on its place's page; how Scene works out the rest.