During the second quarter of this year, three municipalities in the National Capital Region  (NCR) and provinces of Laguna, Region IV and Basilan, Region IX were converted into three component cities. These are the municipalities of Malabon, NCR which was converted to City of Malabon,  Calamba, Laguna to City of Calamba and Isabela, Basilan to City of Isabela.  As a result of these creations/conversions, the total number of cities in the country increased to 113 while the total number of municipalities decreased to 1,496 as of  June 30, 2001. 

The other change during the period was the deletion of Barangay Napico in the City of Pasig, NCR.  The plebiscite held on March 15, 1997 creating the said barangay has been declared null and void by virtue of a Supreme Court decision on September 10, 1999.  The decision came about as boundary dispute between the City of Pasig and Municipality of Cainta remains unsettled. This change brought the total number of barangays in the country to 41,943.

Luzon, the largest island group in the country, has now 54 cities, 717 municipalities and 20,476 barangays. Visayas still has 32 cities, 376 municipalities and 11,441 barangays while Mindanao has now 27 cities, 403 municipalities and 10,026 barangays.

    Number of Local Government Units (LGUs), by Island Group 
(As of June 30,  2001 and as of March 31,  2001)

Source: National Barangay Operations Office of the Department of the
Interior and Local Government (NBOO/DILG)