Local government in the Bangsamoro
Every province,every town,and who runs it.
The region down to the barangay: what each unit is, how many people live in it, which posts are on its ballot, and the governors, mayors and councillors COMELEC canvassed into office in 2025.
- Provinces, city and special area
- 7
- Cities and municipalities
- 108
- Barangays
- 2,180
- People, 2024 census
- 4,330,783
Provinces, city and special area
Cities and municipalities
Barangays
People, 2024 census
4,330,783 people
5 provinces, a city,and a special area.
Each one opens onto its cities and municipalities, and each of those onto its barangays, its officials, and the services it is responsible for. 3 of the 108 units are cities.
Why this total is smaller than PSA’s
These totals are BARMM without Sulu — 108 units rather than the 127 PSA counts, because PSA’s 2024 census composition still includes Sulu and the Supreme Court has since excluded it. A figure you find elsewhere for “BARMM” will usually be the larger one.
PSA puts BARMM at 5,691,583 people on July 1, 2024. This directory shows 4,330,783, and the whole of the difference is accounted for: Sulu, which the Supreme Court removed from the region, is roughly 1.15 million, and the Special Geographic Area — whose 8 municipalities were ratified in 2024 and have no census figures of their own yet — is roughly 215,000. Cotabato City is counted once here, not twice: PSA files it inside Maguindanao del Norte, so the provincial figure on that page has the city taken out of it.
One province holds a third of the townsand over half the barangays.
The region does not divide evenly. Lanao del Sur alone accounts for 40 of the 108 cities and municipalities and 1,159 of the 2,180 barangays — more than the other six areas together — while Cotabato City is a single unit of 37.
108
cities and municipalities
- Lanao del Sur
- 4037.0%
- Maguindanao del Sur
- 2422.2%
- Basilan
- 1211.1%
- Maguindanao del Norte
- 1211.1%
- Tawi-Tawi
- 1110.2%
- Special Geographic Area
- 87.4%
- Cotabato City
- 10.9%
2,180
barangays
- Lanao del Sur
- 1,15953.2%
- Maguindanao del Sur
- 28713.2%
- Maguindanao del Norte
- 22110.1%
- Basilan
- 2109.6%
- Tawi-Tawi
- 2039.3%
- Special Geographic Area
- 632.9%
- Cotabato City
- 371.7%
Every rung,and who you elect to it.
From the region down to the barangay. These are different offices on different schedules, and the Bangsamoro Parliament does not replace any of them.
The region
BARMM — an autonomous regional government, not a local government unit.
Voters elect the Bangsamoro Parliament; the Parliament then chooses the Chief Minister from among its own members. Nobody votes for a Chief Minister directly. The first regular election for these seats is September 14, 2026.
You elect
- Members of Parliament (80 seats)
The province
Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi — plus the Special Geographic Area.
The provincial board is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. Its members are elected by district, which is why a province with more districts sends more board members. Cotabato City elects none of them: it is an independent component city and answers to no province.
You elect
- Governor
- Vice-Governor
- Sangguniang Panlalawigan members
The city or municipality
The town or city hall — 3 cities and 105 municipalities across the region, Sulu excluded.
This is the rung most public services are actually delivered from, and the one most people mean when they say “the LGU”.
You elect
- Mayor
- Vice-Mayor
- Sangguniang Panlungsod or Sangguniang Bayan members
The barangay
The basic political unit — 2,180 of them across the units in this directory.
Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials are elected together, on their own schedule, separate from both the national midterms and the Bangsamoro parliamentary election.
You elect
- Punong Barangay
- 7 Sangguniang Barangay members
- SK Chairperson and 7 SK members
Two ballots, one voter.
A voter in Marawi elects a governor, a mayor, a barangay captain — and, separately, a Member of the Bangsamoro Parliament. BARMM sits over the local government units in the region; it does not stand in for them.
What the region did change is the rulebook underneath. The Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 49 — Bangsamoro Local Governance Code was enacted on September 28, 2023 and is the code these units are governed by: it creates the offices, fixes the terms and the pay, and devolves the services. Its implementing rules followed on September 30, 2025. The national Local Government Code of 1991 still applies inside BARMM, but only where the Bangsamoro one is silent.
Every post,elected and appointed.
Which offices a unit has is set by the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code rather than by the unit, so the ladder is the same in all 108 of them — though a municipality may do without several of the appointed posts a province and a city must fill. The elected posts are the ballot; the appointed ones are the people a resident actually deals with.
Elected · The province
Governor
Chief executive of the province.
Salary grade 30. Must be 23 on election day. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
Vice-Governor
Presides over the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the provincial board.
Salary grade 28. Must be 23 on election day. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
Sangguniang Panlalawigan members
The provincial board. Members are elected by district, so a province with more districts seats more of them.
Must be 23 on election day. (Code s. 42)
Elected · The city
City Mayor
Chief executive of the city.
Salary grade 30 in a highly urbanised city. Must be 23 on election day there, 21 in a component city. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
City Vice-Mayor
Presides over the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
Salary grade 28. Must be 23 on election day, 21 in a component city. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
Sangguniang Panlungsod members
The city council — 10 regular members in each of the region’s three cities, plus the ex officio seats for the barangay and youth federation presidents.
Must be 18 on election day, 23 in a highly urbanised city. (Code s. 42)
Elected · The municipality
Municipal Mayor
Chief executive of the municipality.
Salary grade 27. Must be 21 on election day. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
Municipal Vice-Mayor
Presides over the Sangguniang Bayan.
Salary grade 25. Must be 21 on election day. (IRR art. 187, Code s. 42)
Sangguniang Bayan members
The municipal council — 8 regular members, plus the ex officio seats for the barangay and youth federation presidents.
Must be 18 on election day. (Code s. 42)
Elected · The barangay
Punong Barangay
The barangay captain, and its chief executive.
Paid an honorarium, not a salary: at least ₱5,000 a month, up to the first step of salary grade 14. Must be 18. (Code s. 424, IRR art. 45)
7 Sangguniang Barangay members
The barangay council, elected at large across the barangay.
At least ₱3,000 a month, up to the first step of salary grade 10. Must be 18. (Code s. 424, IRR art. 45)
SK Chairperson and 7 SK members
The Sangguniang Kabataan — the youth council, elected by and from residents aged 15 to 30.
The chairperson sits on the barangay council and is paid as its members are. Must be 18 to 24 on election day. The SK gets 10% of the barangay’s general fund. (Code s. 42, IRR arts. 45, 83, 624)
Appointed.
Nobody votes for these, and they are the offices a resident actually deals with. A business permit goes to the treasurer, a birth certificate to the civil registrar. Every city and municipality is required or permitted to have them.
Treasurer
Collects taxes and fees, and keeps the unit’s funds. The office behind business permits and real property tax.
Required at every level. Appointed by the regional finance ministry, not by the mayor. (IRR arts. 229–231, 240)
Assessor
Values land and buildings for real property tax, and keeps the tax map.
Required at every level. Revalues all property every three years. (IRR arts. 229–231, 517)
Accountant
Keeps the books and certifies the availability of funds.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Budget Officer
Prepares the annual budget the council enacts.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Planning and Development Coordinator
Prepares the comprehensive development plan and the land use plan.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Engineer
Infrastructure, public works, and building permits.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Health Officer
Runs the rural health unit or city health office.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231, 248)
Secretary to the Sanggunian
Keeps the council’s records and ordinances.
Required at every level. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Civil Registrar
Birth, marriage and death records.
Required in a municipality. Provinces keep no civil registry. (IRR art. 231)
Administrator
Runs the machinery of the unit day to day and coordinates the departments.
Required in a province and a city; optional in a municipality. (IRR arts. 229–231, 236)
Legal Officer
Advises the unit and represents it in cases brought against it.
Required in a province and a city; optional in a municipality. (IRR arts. 229–231)
Social Welfare and Development Officer
Assistance programs, child and family services, disaster relief casework.
Required in a province and a city; optional in a municipality. (IRR arts. 229–231)
General Services Officer
Supplies, records, motor pool and the unit’s property.
Required in a province and a city. (IRR arts. 229–230)
Veterinarian
Animal health, the slaughterhouse, and meat inspection.
Required in a province and a city. (IRR arts. 229–230)
Agriculturist
Extension services for farmers and fisherfolk.
Required in a province; optional in a municipality. (IRR arts. 229, 231)
Architect
Design of the unit’s buildings and review of plans.
Required in a city; optional in a municipality. (IRR arts. 230–231)
Environment and Natural Resources Officer
Waste, water, and the unit’s share of forestry and pollution control.
Optional in a municipality. (IRR art. 231)
Information Officer
Public information and the unit’s own record of what it is doing.
Optional in a municipality. (IRR art. 231)
Barangay officialsare elected separately.
Governors, mayors, vice-mayors and councillors are here, from COMELEC's 2025 Certificates of Canvass. Barangay elections run on their own schedule and are not in that canvass, so the 2,180 punong barangay are still to come — until then, these offices hold that part of the record.