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Government / Provinces

The province is the largest unit of local government in the Philippines and is created by an act of Congress subject to the approval of a plebiscite. To qualify as a province a place must have an area of at least 3,500 sqkm, a population of no less than 500,000 and an average annual income of 10 million pesos over the previous 3 consecutive years.

The elected provincial officials are the Governor, Vice governor and the Provincial Board (Sangguning Panlalawigan). The provincial governor is the chief executive of the province. Among his more important functions is the appointment of heads of offices and employees of provincial government, coordination and administration of services rendered by the National government's offices and agencies, visiting cities and municipalities of his province at least once every 6 months. In these functions, the governor is assisted by the Vice governor who is also an ex-officio member of the Provincial board. The governor, in the performance of his duties, is responsible only to his constituents, although he is supervised by the Department of Local Government.

The provincial board is the lawmaking body of a province. It is composed of the governor, vice governor and 8 members. An ordinance or resolution passed by the Provincial Board after deliberation, is forwarded to the governor and is then returned , either approved or vetoed, within 15 days. otherwise, it is considered approved. Veto power is exercised only in appropriation ordinances in which case the governor will signify in writing his disapproval of the ordinance. The board may however override it by a 2/3 vote of all its members.

Provincial government officials must be a citizen, over 23 years of age, a qualified voter who can read and write any of the Filipino dialects and a resident for at least one year. The term of office is 6 years.

The Country has 72 provinces. Each province is divided into towns, usually about ten to twenty. Towns (or municipalities) actually are rather more closely related to townships or counties as they always encompass large rural areas and many villages often of a size matching or exceeding the town they are a part of.

Philippine mailing addresses reflect this structure: They consist of the name of the addressee (first line), the street (second line), the barrio or barangay (third line), the municipality (forth line), and the province (fifth line). As there are often many municipalities with the same names, it is very important to state the province in any address. Filipinos are so used to this structure that when asked where they are from, they will at least state the name of the municipality and the name of the province.

Region I, Ilocos

Ilocos Norte (2)

Abra (5)

Ilocos Sur (6)

Mountain Province (7)

Benguet (10)

La Union (11)

Pangasinan (14)

Region II, Cagayan Valley

Batanes (1)

Kalinga-Apayao (3)

Cagayan (4)

Isabela (8)

Ifugao (9)

Nueva Vizcaya (12)

Quirino (13)

Region III, Central Luzon

Zambales (15)

Tarlac (16)

Nueva Ecija (17)

Pampanga (18)

Bulacan (19)

Bataan (20)

Region IV, Southern Tagalog

Rizal (21)

Cavite (22)

Laguna (23)

Batangas (24)

Quezon (25)

Marinduque (31)

Mindoro Oriental (32)

Mindoro Occidental (33)

Romblon (34)

Palawan (49)

Region V, Bicol

Camarines Norte (26)

Camarines Sur (27)

Catanduanes (28)

Albay (29)

Sorsogon (30)

Masbate (35)

Region VI, Western Visayas

Negros Occidental (43)

Aklan (45)

Capiz (46)

Iloilo (47)

Antique (48)

Region VII, Central Visayas

Bohol (41)

Cebu (42)

Negros Oriental (44)

Siquijor (50)

Region VIII, Eastern Visayas

Northern Samar (36)

Western Samar (37)

Leyte (38)

Southern Leyte (40)

Region IX, Western Mindanao

Zamboanga del Norte (68)

Zamboanga de Sur (69)

Basilan (70)

Jolo (71)

Tawi-Tawi (72)

Region X, Northern Mindanao

Camiguin (51)

Surigao del Norte (52)

Agusan del Norte (54)

Agusan del Sur (55)

Misamis Oriental (56)

Bukidnon (57)

Misamis Occidental (60)

Region XI, Southern Mindanao

Surigao del Sur (53)

Davao del Norte (64)

Davao Oriental (65)

Davao del Sur (66)

South Cotabato (67)

Region XII, Central Mindanao

Lanao del Sur (58)

Lanao del Norte (59)

Maguindanao (61)

North Cotabato (62)

Sultan Kudarat (63)

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An upper blepharoplasy in someone who is Asian is termed Asian blepharoplasty or double eyelid surgery. [1] It is the most popular form of cosmetic surgery among those of east and southeast Asian background. Due to anatomic differences between the asian and occidental eyelid, about half of this population are born without a supratarsal eyelid crease and are called single-lidded. Surgery can be used to artificially create a crease above the eye.