1.
Municipalities of the Philippines
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A municipality is a local government unit in the Philippines. Municipalities are also usually called towns and they are distinct from cities, which are a different category of local government unit. Provinces of the Philippines are divided into cities and municipalities, which in turn, are divided into barangays, as of June 2015, there are 1,490 municipalities across the country. A municipal district is a local government unit, previously certain areas were created first as municipal districts before they were converted into municipalities. Municipalities have some autonomy from the National Government of the Republic of the Philippines under the Local Government Code of 1991 and they have been granted corporate personality enabling them to enact local policies and laws, enforce them, and govern their jurisdictions. They can enter into contracts and other transactions through their elected and appointed officials and they are tasked with enforcing all laws, whether local or national. The National Government assists and supervises the local government to make sure that they do not violate national law, the Judicial Branch of the Republic of the Philippines also caters to the needs of local government units. Local governments, such as a municipalities, do not have their own judicial branch and these responsibilities shall be under approval of the Sangguniang Bayan. The vice mayor shall sign all warrants drawn on the municipal treasury, in circumstances where the mayor permanently or temporarily vacates the position, he shall assume executive duties and functions. While vice mayor presides over the legislature, he cannot vote unless the necessity of tie-breaking arises, laws or ordinances proposed by the Sangguniang Bayan, however, may be approved or vetoed by the mayor. If approved, they become local ordinances, if the mayor neither vetoes nor approves the proposal of the Sangguniang Bayan for ten days from the time of receipt, the proposal becomes law as if it had been signed. If vetoed, the draft is sent back to the Sangguniang Bayan, the latter may override the mayor by a vote of at least two-thirds of all its members, in which case, the proposal becomes law. A municipality, upon reaching a certain requirements – minimum population size, first, a bill must be passed in Congress, then signed into law by the President and then the residents would vote in the succeeding plebiscite to accept or reject cityhood. One benefit in being a city is that the city government gets more budget, but taxes are much higher than in municipalities
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
4.
Regions of the Philippines
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In the Philippines, regions, ISO 3166-2, PH) are administrative divisions that serve primarily to organize the provinces of the country for administrative convenience. Currently, the republic of the Philippines is divided into 18 regions. Most government offices are established by region instead of individual provincial offices, 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, 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, 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 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, february 23,1995, Region XIII 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, september 19,2001, Most Mindanao regions reorganized and some renamed. May 17,2002, Region IV-A and Region IV-B created from the former Region IV region, 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 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 from the former Region IV-B. As of May 2015, the Philippines comprises 18 administrative regions and these regions are geographically organized into the three island groups of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
5.
Central Visayas
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Central Visayas is a region of the Philippines, designated as Region VII. It is located in the part of the Visayas island group. Cebu City is the regional center, the region is dominated by the native speakers of Cebuano. The land area of the region is 10,102 square kilometres, on May 29,2015, the region was redefined, when Region VII lost the province of Negros Oriental to the newly formed Negros Island Region. By virtue of Executive Order No.183 issued on May 29,2015 by President Benigno Aquino III, in the 2013 electoral roll, it had 4,114,046 registered voters, meaning that 68% of the population are aged 18 and over. According to the 2015 census, it had a population of 6,041,903, the 2015 census showed an average annual population growth rate of 1. 76% from 2010 to 2015, slightly higher than the national average of 1. 72%. Cebuano is the dominant language of the region, the Central Visayas region consists of 3 provinces and 3 independent cities, Negros Oriental was formerly a part of Region VII. President Benigno Aquino III signed the Executive Order No.183, Cebu City is the main media hub for both the region. Most of these stations broadcast local news and public affairs as well as entertainment, aside from the 24 national daily newspapers available, Cebu City also has 20 local newspapers. Among the widely read are the Sun Star Cebu, the countrys main Islamic news journal, The Voice of Islam, was founded in 1961 and published in this city. The Port of Cebu is the main gateway. There are also ports in Tagbilaran in Bohol and Larena in Siquijor, inter-island shipping is served by numerous shipping lines, two of them fastcraft companies which serve all the provinces in the region. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City, is the second busiest airport. It is the airline hub of Cebu Pacific, and secondary hub for Philippine Airlines and its subsidiaries. It also serves international flights to other Asian and intercontinental destinations, other airports in the region are Tagbilaran Airport, serves Tagbilaran and Bohol with flights to Manila. Media related to Central Visayas at Wikimedia Commons Central Visayas travel guide from Wikivoyage
6.
Provinces of the Philippines
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The provinces of the Philippines are the primary political and administrative divisions of the Philippines. There are 81 provinces at present, further subdivided into component cities and municipalities, the National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are independent of any provincial government. Each province is governed by a legislature called the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The provinces are grouped into 18 regions based on geographical, cultural, fifteen of these regions are designated with numbers corresponding to their geographic location in order from north to south. The Cordillera Administrative Region, National Capital Region, Negros Island Region, each province is a member of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, an organization which aims to address issues affecting provincial and metropolitan government administrations. A provincial government is autonomous of other provinces within the Republic, each province is governed by two main elected branches of the government, executive and legislative. Judicial affairs are separated from provincial governance and are administered by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the provincial governor is chief executive and head of each province. The vice governor acts as the president for each Sangguniáng Panlalawigan, every SP is composed of regularly elected members from provincial districts, as well as ex officio members. The number of regularly elected SP members allotted to each province is determined by its income class, first- and second-class provinces are provided ten regular SP members, third- and fourth-class provinces have eight, while fifth- and sixth-class provinces have six. Exceptions are provinces with more than five congressional districts, such as Cavite with 14 regularly elected SP members, every SP has designated seats for ex officio members, given to the respective local presidents of the Association of Barangay Captains, Philippine Councilors League, and Sangguniáng Kabataan. The vice governor and regular members of an SP are elected by the voters within the province, ex officio members are elected by members of their respective organisations. National intrusion into the affairs of each provincial government is limited by the Philippine Constitution, the President of the Philippines however coordinates with provincial administrators through the Department of the Interior and Local Government. For purposes of representation, each province is guaranteed its own congressional district. One congressional representative represents each district in the House of Representatives, senatorial representation is elected at an at-large basis and not apportioned through territory-based districts. Those classified as highly urbanized or independent component cities are independent from the province. Local government units classified as component cities and municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, the provincial government does not have direct relations with individual barangays. Supervision over a government is the mandate of the mayor. Provinces are classified according to annual income based on the previous 4 calendar years
7.
Cebu
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Cebu is a 1st provincial income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consisting of the main island itself and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, Cebu City forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities and eight other local government units. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines, Cebu is one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas. In a decade it has transformed into a hub for shipping, furniture-making, tourism, business processing services. The name Cebu came from the old Cebuano word sibu or sibo and it was originally applied to the harbors of the town of Sugbu, the ancient name for Cebu City. Alternate renditions of the name by traders between the 13th to 16th centuries include Sebu, Sibuy, Zubu, or Zebu, among others, Sugbu, in turn, was derived from the Old Cebuano term for scorched earth or great fire. The Rajahnate of Cebu was a native kingdom which existed in Cebu prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. It was founded by Sri Lumay otherwise known as Rajamuda Lumaya and he was sent by the Maharajah to establish a base for expeditionary forces to subdue the local kingdoms, but he rebelled and established his own independent Rajahnate instead. The arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 established a period of Spanish exploration and colonization, losing favor for his plan of reaching the Spice Islands from king Manuel I of Portugal, by sailing west from Europe, Magellan offered his services to king Charles I of Spain. On 20 September 1519, Magellan led five ships with a crew of 250 people from the Spanish fort of Sanlúcar de Barrameda en route to southeast Asia via the Americas and they reached the Philippines on 16 March 1521. Rajah Kolambu the king of Mazaua told them to sail for Cebu, arriving in Cebu City, Magellan, with Enrique of Malacca as translator, befriended Rajah Humabon the Rajah or King of Cebu and persuaded the natives of allegiance to Charles I of Spain. Humabon and his wife were given Christian names and baptized as Carlos, the Santo Niño was presented to the native queen of Cebu, as a symbol of peace and friendship between the Spaniards and the Cebuanos. On 14 April Magellan erected a wooden cross on the shores of Cebu. Afterwards, about 700 islanders were baptized, Magellan soon heard of datu Lapu-Lapu, a native king in nearby Mactan Island, a rival of the Rajahs of Cebu. It was thought that Humabon and Lapu–Lapu had been fighting for control of the trade in the area. On 27 April the Battle of Mactan occurred where the Spaniards were defeated, according to Italian historian and chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, Magellans body was never recovered despite efforts to trade for it with spice and jewels. Magellans second-in-command, Juan Sebastián Elcano took his place as captain of the expedition and sailed their fleet back to Spain, survivors of the Magellan expedition brought tales of a savage island in the East Indies with them when they returned to Spain. Consequently, several Spanish expeditions were sent to the islands but all ended in failure, in 1564, Spanish explorers led by Miguel López de Legazpi, sailing from Mexico, arrived in 1565, and established a colony
8.
House of Representatives of the Philippines
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The House of Representatives of the Philippines, is the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines. It is often informally called Congress, Members of the House are officially styled as Representative and sometimes informally called Congressmen/Congresswomen and are elected to a three-year term. They can be re-elected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms, around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. There are 234 legislative districts in the country, each composed of about 250,000 people, there are also party-list representatives elected through the party-list system who constitute not more than twenty percent of the total number of representatives. The House of Representatives is headed by the Speaker, currently Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte, the official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the Batasang Pambansa located in the Batasan Hills in Quezon City in Metro Manila. The building is simply called Batasan and the word has also become a metonym to refer to the House of Representatives. At the beginning of American colonial rule, from March 16,1900, william Howard Taft was chosen to be the first American civilian Governor-General and the first leader of this Philippine Commission, which subsequently became known as the Taft Commission. This bicameral legislature was inaugurated in October 1907, under the leadership of Speaker Sergio Osmeña and Floor Leader Manuel L. Quezon, the Rules of the 59th United States Congress was substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature. It is this body, founded as the Philippine Assembly, that would continue in one form or another, in 1916, the Jones Act, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act, changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished and a new fully elected, bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives, the legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution established a unicameral National Assembly, but in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was adopted. The Liberal bloc of the Nacionalistas permanently split from their ranks and these two will contest all of the elections in what appeared to be a two-party system. This set up continued until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, the 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. Corazon Aquino who nominally had no party, supported the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, with the victory of Fidel V. This also meant the restoration of Lakas-NUCD as the top party in the chamber, the same would happen when Benigno Aquino won in 2010, which returned the Liberals into power. The presiding officer is the Speaker, the members of the House of Representatives who are also its officers are also ex officio members of all of the committees and has a vote. The Speaker is the head of the House of Representatives, the speaker is elected by majority of all the members of the house, including vacant seats. The speaker is elected at the convening of each Congress
9.
Legislative districts of Cebu
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The Legislative Districts of Cebu are the representations of the province of Cebu in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu last formed part of the representation in 1972 and 2010. 17th Congress Cebu was divided into seven districts in 1907. Cebu City, being a city, was represented separately in this short-lived legislative body. Upon the restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1945, the province retained its seven pre-war representative districts, the province was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region VII from 1978 to 1984. Beginning in 1984 the province elected six representatives, at large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa, Cebu City,51, began to be represented separately from Cebu at this time. Cebu, including the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, was reapportioned into six districts under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11,1987. The six districts elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year, the passage of Republic Act No.9726 on October 22,2009 separated the highly urbanized city of Lapu-Lapu from the sixth district to form its own congressional district starting in the 2010 elections. 10684, approved on September 18,2015, split the second district and created a seventh district which first elected its own representative in the 2016 elections
10.
Barangay
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A barangay, formerly referred to as barrio, is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward. In colloquial usage, the term refers to an inner city neighbourhood. The word barangay originated from balangay, a kind of boat used by a group of Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines, as of June 2015, there were 42,029 barangays throughout the Philippines. When the first Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, the name barangay originated from balangay, a Malay word meaning sailboat. The first barangays started as small communities of around 50 to 100 families. By the time of contact with Spaniards, many barangays have developed into large communities, some of these barangays had large populations. In Panay, some barangays had 20,000 inhabitants, in Leyte,15,000 inhabitants, in Cebu,3,500 residents, in Vitis,7,000 inhabitants, there were smaller barangays with less number of people. But these were generally inland communities, or if they were coastal and these smaller barangays had around thirty to one hundred houses only, and the population varies from one hundred to five hundred persons. According to Legazpi, he found communities with twenty to thirty people only, traditionally, the original “barangays” were coastal settlements of the migration of these Malayo-Polynesian people from other places in Southeast Asia. Most of the ancient barangays were coastal or riverine in nature and this is because most of the people were relying on fishing for supply of protein and for their livelihood. They also travelled mostly by water up and down rivers, trails always followed river systems, which were also a major source of water for bathing, washing, and drinking. The coastal barangays were more accessible to trade with foreigners and these were ideal places for economic activity to develop. Business with traders from other countries also meant contact with cultures and civilizations, such as those of Japan, Han Chinese, Indian people. These coastal communities acquired more cosmopolitan cultures, with developed social structures, during the Spanish rule, through a resettlement policy called the Reducción, smaller scattered barangays were consolidated to form compact towns. Each barangay was headed by the cabeza de barangay, who formed part of the Principalía - the elite ruling class of the municipalities of the Spanish Philippines and this position was inherited from the first datus, and came to be known as such during the Spanish regime. The Spanish Monarch ruled each barangay through the Cabeza, who collected taxes from the residents for the Spanish Crown. When the Americans arrived, slight changes in the structure of government was effected. Later, Rural Councils with four councilors were created to assist, now renamed Barrio Lieutenant, it was later renamed Barrio Council, the Spanish term barrio was used for much of the 20th century until 1974, when President Ferdinand Marcos ordered their renaming to barangays
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Santander
Province of Cebu