Editing Provinces of the Philippines (section)

== Government ==
A provincial government is autonomous of other provinces within the republic. Each province is governed by two main elected branches of the government: executive and legislative. Judicial affairs are separated from provincial governance and are administered by the [[Supreme Court of the Philippines]]. Each province has at least one branch of a [[Regional Trial Court]].

=== Executive ===
{{main|List of current Philippine provincial governors}}
The provincial governor is chief executive and head of each province. Provincial governors are elected to a term of three years and limited to three consecutive terms and appoint the directors of each provincial department which include the office of administration, engineering office, information office, legal office, and treasury office.

=== Legislative ===
{{main|Sangguniang Panlalawigan}}
The vice governor acts as the president for each ''[[Sangguniang Panlalawigan]]'' ('''SP'''; "Provincial Board"), the province's legislative body. Every SP is composed of regularly elected members from provincial districts, as well as ''ex officio'' members. The number of regularly elected SP members allotted to each province is determined by its income class. First- and second-class provinces are provided ten regular SP members; third- and fourth-class provinces have eight, while fifth- and sixth-class provinces have six. Exceptions are provinces with more than five congressional districts, such as [[Cavite]] with 16 regularly elected SP members, and [[Cebu]], [[Negros Occidental]] and [[Pangasinan]] which have twelve each.

Every SP has designated seats for ''ex officio'' members, given to the respective local presidents of the Association of [[Barangay]] Captains (ABC), Philippine Councilors' League (PCL), and ''[[Sangguniang Kabataan]]'' ('''SK'''; "Youth Council").

The vice governor and regular members of an SP are elected by the voters within the province. ''[[Ex officio]]'' members are elected by members of their respective organizations.

=== Relation to other levels of government ===
==== National government ====
National intrusion into the affairs of each provincial government is limited by the Philippine Constitution.  The [[President of the Philippines]] however coordinates with provincial administrators through the [[Department of the Interior and Local Government]].  For purposes of national representation, each province is guaranteed its own [[House of Representatives of the Philippines|congressional district]].  One congressional representative represents each district in the [[House of Representatives of the Philippines|House of Representatives]]. [[Senate of the Philippines|Senatorial]] representation is elected at an at-large basis and not apportioned through territory-based districts.

==== Cities and municipalities ====
{{main|Cities of the Philippines|Municipalities of the Philippines}}
Those classified as either "highly urbanized" or "independent component" cities are [[Cities of the Philippines#Independent cities|independent]] from the province, as provided for in Section 29 of the Local Government Code of 1991.<ref name="LGC">{{Cite web |title=R.A. 7160 |url=https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1991/ra_7160_1991.html |url-status=dead |website=lawphil.net |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503071511/http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1991/ra_7160_1991.html |archivedate=May 3, 2016}}</ref> Although such a city is a self-governing second-level entity, in many cases it is often presented as part of the province in which it is geographically located, or in the case of [[Zamboanga City]], the [[Zamboanga del Sur|province it last formed part the congressional representation of]].

Local government units classified as "component" cities and municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. In order to make sure that all component city or municipal governments act within the scope of their prescribed powers and functions, the Local Government Code mandates the provincial governor to review executive orders issued by mayors, and the [[Sangguniang Panlalawigan]] to review legislation by the [[Sangguniang Panlungsod]] (City Council) or [[Sangguniang Bayan]] (Municipal Council), of all component cities and municipalities under the province's jurisdiction.<ref name="LGC" />

=== Barangays ===
The provincial government does not have direct relations with individual barangays. Supervision over a barangay government is the mandate of the mayor and the Sanggunian of the component city or municipality of which the barangay in question is a part.<ref name="LGC" />

=== Classification {{anchor|Income classification}} ===
[[File:Philippine provinces by income classification.svg|thumb|170px|Provinces based on income classification.]]
Provinces are classified according to average annual income based on the previous 4 calendar years. Effective July 29, 2008, the thresholds for the income classes for cities are:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department Order No. 23-08 Prescribing the New Income Brackets for the Re-classification of Provinces, Cities and Municipalities and Amending for the Purpose Department of Finance Order No. 20-05, dated July 29, 2005. |date=July 29, 2008 |first=Margarito B. |last=Teves |url=http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/articles/DepOrderReclass.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083823/http://nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/articles/DepOrderReclass.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=September 29, 2014}}</ref>{{update inline|date=March 2018}}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" 
|-
! scope="col" | Class
! scope="col" | Average annual income
|-
! scope="row" | First
| [[Philippine peso|₱]]450&nbsp;million or more
|-
! scope="row" | Second
| ₱360&nbsp;million or more but less than ₱450&nbsp;million
|-
! scope="row" | Third
| ₱270&nbsp;million or more but less than ₱360&nbsp;million
|-
! scope="row" | Fourth
| ₱180&nbsp;million or more but less than ₱270&nbsp;million
|-
! scope="row" | Fifth
| ₱90&nbsp;million or more but less than ₱180&nbsp;million
|-
! scope="row" | Sixth
| below ₱90&nbsp;million
|}
A province's income class determines the size of the membership of its [[Sangguniang Panlalawigan]], and also how much it can spend on certain items, or procure through certain means.<ref name="LGC" />