THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

ARTICLE I

NATIONAL TERRITORY

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters
embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction,
consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil,
the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands
of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the
Philippines.
GEOGRAPHY

The Philippines is an archipelago comprising 7,641 islands with a total land area of 300,000 km2. The 11 largest
islands contain 94% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 km2. The next largest
island is Mindanao at about 95,000 km2. The archipelago is around 800 km from the Asian mainland and is located
between Taiwan and Borneo.
The islands are divided into three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Luzon islands include Luzon Island
itself, Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Masbate and Batanes Islands. The Visayas is the group of islands in the central
Philippines, the largest of which are: Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar. The Mindanao islands include
Mindanao itself, plus the Sulu Archipelago, composed primarily of Basilan, Sulu Island, and Tawi-Tawi.
The Philippines is divided into a hierarchy of local government units (LGUs) with the 83 provinces as the primary
unit. Provinces are further subdivided into cities and municipalities, which are in turn composed of barangays. The
barangay is the smallest local government unit.
The Philippines is divided into 17 regions with all provinces grouped into one of 16 regions for administrative
convenience. The National Capital Region however, is divided into four special districts.
Most government offices establish regional offices to serve the constituent provinces. The regions themselves do
not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Regions
Ilocos Region (Region I)
Cagayan Valley (Region II)
Central Luzon (Region III)
CALABARZON (Region IV-A)
MIMAROPA (Region IV-B)
Bicol Region (Region V)
Western Visayas (Region VI)
Central Visayas (Region VII)
Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)
Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX)
Northern Mindanao (Region X)
Davao Region (Region XI)
Soccsksargen (Region XII)
Caraga (Region XIII)
Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM)
Cordillera Administrative Region
(CAR)
National Capital Region (NCR)

The boundaries of the Philippine archipelago are described in Article III of the Treaty of Paris (1898), as
comprising an irregular polygon A box enclosing that polygon would have corners at 20°N 116°E, 20°N 127°E, 4.75°N
127°E, 4.75°N 116°E. The center of this box would lie at 121.5 E, 12.375 N. That point lies roughly in the center of the
Tablas Strait between the islands of Tablas and Mindoro.
Republic Act No. 9522, "An Act to Define the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines", describes
an irregular polygon which fits within a box with its center at 121°44'47.45"E 12°46'6.1252"N, a point also roughly in the
center of the Tablas Strait.
The CIA Factbook locates the Philippines at 13°N 12°E. This point, northwest of Romblon Island, is the
approximate center of a box enclosing the land boundaries of the Philippine archipelago, not including the Spratly Islands.
The extreme points under Philippine control as of 2010 are:

Coordinates
Direction Location
Latitude (N) Longitude (E)
North Amianan Island, Batanes 21º7’18.41" 121º56’48.79"
East Pusan Point, Davao Oriental 7º17’19.80" 126º36’18.26"
South Frances Reef, Tawi-Tawi 4º24’53.84" 119º14’50.71"
West Thitu Island, Kalayaan, Palawan 11°3’10.19" 114°16’54.66"