The Provinces of the Philippines (Filipino: Mga Lalawigan ng Pilipinas/Mga Probinsya ng Pilipinas)

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 an elected legislature called the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and by an
elected governor.
The provinces are grouped into 17 regions based on geographical, cultural, and ethnological
characteristics. Fourteen 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, Mimaropa region, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao do
not have numerical designations.
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.[1]

Legislative[edit]
Main article: Sangguniang Panlalawigan
The vice governor acts as the president for each Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP; "Provincial
Board"), the province's legislative body. 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, and Cebu, Negros
Occidental and Pangasinan which have twelve each.
Every SP has designated seats for ex officio members, given to the respective local presidents of
the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), Philippine Councilors' League (PCL),
and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK; "Youth Council").
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.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (English: Provincial Council), commonly known as

the Provincial Board, is the Filipino language name given to the legislatures in Philippine provinces.
They are the legislative branch of the province and their powers and responsibilities are defined by
the Local Government Code of 1991.[1] Along with the provincial governor, the executive branch of
the province, they form the province's government

Partido de Camarines was further divided into Camarines Sur and Norte in 1829. From 1864 until
1893, Camarines Norte and Sur (collectively called Ambos Camarines) underwent a series of
confusing geo-political division, fusion, re-division, and re-fusion, until in 1919 when the first
Philippine Legislature finally separated Norte and Sur into two provinces. Camarines Norte's capital
is Daet while Camarines Sur's capital town was Naga, the city once called "Nueva Cáceres" –
namesake of a province in Spain and among the original five royal cities of the colony.
April 27, 1901: Provisions of the Provincial Government Act extended to Ambos
Camarines through Act No. 123.

March 3, 1919: Ambos Camarines divided into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur through Act

No. 2809

The passage of Republic Act No. 2264 (the "Local Autonomy Act") on June 19, 1959 not only
granted greater autonomy to local governments, but also expanded the composition of the Provincial
Board by creating a new elective office, the vice-governorship, as well as providing for provinces of
the first, second and third income class to have one additional elected board member.[4] However,
the Board still had limited real legislative powers, as the provincial government was merely serving
as an extension of national government.[5] Republic Act No. 5185 was enacted in 1967 with the
intention of decentralizing authority and further empowering local governments to address the needs
of their constituents more effectively.[6]
By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 826 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos on November 14,
1975[7] all existing governing boards and councils in each province, city and municipality were
renamed Sangguniang Bayan. The province-level Sangguniang Bayan (later given the
name Sangguniang Panlalawigan,[8] commonly abbreviated to SP) consisted of all the incumbent
provincial board members (including the governor and vice-governor), plus a representative from
each municipality within the province, and the provincial president of the Katipunan ng Mga
Kabataang Barangay or Association of Barangay Youth.[7]
Batas Pambansa Blg. 51, enacted in 1979, standardized the composition of all provincial legislatures
by reducing the membership of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. All provinces were entitled to 6
elective SP members, unless they had more than one million residents (8 members) or less than
100,000 residents (4 members). Direct municipal representation was eliminated, and in its place was
indirect "grassroots" representation through the president of the provincial association of barangay
chairmen who was appointed by the President, who also happened to be the Prime Minister. Other
members of the new Sanggunian were the governor and the vice governor, both elected by popular
vote, and the president of the provincial federation of the Kabataang Barangay, appointed by the
President/Prime Minister.[9]
The powers and duties of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan was codified under Batas Pambansa Blg.
337, also known as the Local Government Code of 1983. The governor served as an ex
officio member, who did not vote except only to break a tie, but had the power to veto items within,
or entire, Sanggunian ordinances and resolutions. However the veto can be overridden by a two-
thirds vote of all voting SP members.[10]
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan was retained as the legislative branch of all provincial governments
under the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code of 1991. However, unlike the old
Provincial Boards or the pre-1992 Sanggunian, which included in their memberships provincial
executives, under current laws the governor is not considered as a Sanggunian member (although
he or she retains the power to veto SP legislation, which can still be overridden by a two-thirds vote
of all voting members), and the vice-governor, who has now become the presiding officer, only
participates in breaking ties in voting. Since 1992 SP members are elected from districts to ensure
geographical representation, and the size of the province's Sanggunian was dependent on its
income classification rather than population.[1]