A city (lungsod, sometimes siyudad, in Filipino) is a tier of local government in the Philippines. Cities are in the same heirarchical level as municipalities, but under the Local Government Code of 1991, cities are given special treatment in terms of bigger share from the internal revenue allotment (IRA) which forms part of the city's budget. Cities, like municipalities, are composed of barangays and are governed by elective officials such as Mayor as Local Chief Executive, Vice-Mayor, and councilors as well as appointive officials heading the different local offices under them.
A number of cities in the country act independently from their provinces and are largely self-governing. They are classified as HUCs or highly urbanized cities. They have their own representatives in the Congress. Other cities are component units of the provinces and are thus are called component cities. They depend on their mother provincial government for support and representation. There are, however, some component cities that are somewhat independent, like Ormoc City in Leyte.
Quezon City, in Metro Manila is the most populous city in the Philippines with over 2,000,000 residents. Davao City, is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of land area, occupying more than 2,500 square kilometers.
The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) is a non-profit organization and is not a government agency. It has a membership of 84 cities and was founded in 1988. The organization was formed to help coordinate efforts to improve governance and local autonomy and to tackle issues such as preserving the environment and improving public works.
List of Cities
As of December 2004, there are 117 cities in the Philippines.
