During the second quarter of 2009, the creation of the province of Shariff Kabunsuan in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the conversion of 16 municipalities into cities were annulled and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.  The 11 municipalities and 210 barangays of Shariff Kabunsuan were transferred to their originating province of Maguindanao while the 16 cities were reverted as municipalities.

The 16 cities reverted as municipalities are as follows:

The province of Shariff Kabunsuan was created on 26 October 2006 while the 16 municipalities were converted into cities in the second and third quarters of 2007. With these developments, codes for the 16 municipalities remained the same. On the other hand, municipalities from Shariff Kabunsuan retained their original Geographic Codes from their mother province of Maguindanao except for the newly-created municipality of Northern Kabuntalan which assumed a new Geographic Code.

These updates were done based on the following Supreme Court Decisions:

• Annulling and declaring void and unconstitutional the creation of the Province of Shariff Kabunsuan, and reverting it back to its mother province of Maguindanao. The said decision, which was based on Entry of Judgment of the Supreme Court Decision in G.R. Nos. 177597 and 178628, entitled “Bai Sandra S. A. Sema, vs. Commission on Elections, et. Al.,” became final and executory on April 14, 2009.

• Annulling and declaring void and unconstitutional the conversion of the 16 municipalities into cities based on Entry of Judgment of the Supreme Court Decision in G. R. Nos. 176951 and 177499, entitled "League of Cities of the Philippines, et. Al., vs. Commission on Elections, et. Al.”, became final and executory on May 21, 2009.

With these changes, the number of regions, provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays as of June 30, 2009 are as follows:

	June 30, 2009	March 31, 2009
Regions	17	17
Provinces	80	81
Cities	120	136
Municipalities	1,511	1,495
Barangays	42,008	42,008

ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary General

Contact Person:

Ms. Severa B. de Costo / Mr. Fernando Gino B. Regalado
Tel. No.: (+6 32) 890-3135 or 897-1773
E-mail:sb.decosto@nscb.gov.ph or fgb.regalado@nscb.gov.ph