“CITY”

1. “A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that
language, of selecting from those possibilities. Just as language limits what can be said,
architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go.”
- Rebecca Solnit, in: Wanderlust: A History of Walking
Source: http://citybreaths.com/post/18668082019/definitionofacity2#sthash.40YCnqw9.dpuf

2. There are two generic forms of the city, the urban area (the physical form) and the metropolitan
area (the functional or economic form).
The Physical City (Urban Area): The first generic form of the city is the physical expanse, or area
of continuously built-up urbanization. The urban area is generally observable on a clear night
from a high flying airplane. The urban area is simply the extension of urbanization. The urban
area is not defined by jurisdictional boundaries, though where national statistical authorities
define it is necessary to rely on building blocks such as census tracts and municipalities.
The Functional City (Metropolitan Area): The second generic form of the city is the functional
expanse, which is also the economic expanse. The metropolitan area includes the built-up urban
area and the economically connected territory to the outside. The economic relationship is
generally defined by patterns of commuting to work into the urban area. Thus, metropolitan areas
constitute labor market areas.
Source: http://www.demographia.com/db-define.pdf

3. A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a
city is distinguished from a town in general English language meanings, many cities have a
particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.
Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and
transportation. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people
and businesses, benefiting both parties in the process, but it also presents challenges to
managing urban growth. A big city ormetropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City

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4. A place where people live that is larger or more important than a town: an area where many people live
and work.

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/city

CITY
A city is a local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered
cities, whose existence as corporate and administrative entities is governed by their own specific
municipal charters in addition to the Local Government Code of 1991, which specifies their
administrative structure and powers. As of December 31, 2013, there are 144 cities.
There are twelve metropolitan areas in the Philippines as defined by the National
Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Metro Manila is the largest con urbation or urban
agglomeration in the country, and its official metropolitan area is composed of the city of Manila
plus 15 neighboring cities and a municipality. Other metropolitan areas are centered on the cities
of Baguio, Dagupan, Angeles, Olongapo, Batangas, Naga, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de
Oro, Zamboanga and Davao.

Source: Republic Act No. 7160 "Local Government Code of

1991"
TITLE III

THE CITY

CHAPTER I
Role and Creation of the City

Section 448. Role of the City. - The city, consisting of more urbanized and developed barangays.
serves as a general purpose government for the coordination and delivery of basic, regular, and
direct services and effective governance of the inhabitants within its territorial jurisdiction.
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Section 449. Manner of Creation. - A city may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its
boundary substantially altered, only by an Act of Congress, and subject to approval by a majority
of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be conducted by the COMELEC in the local government unit
or units directly affected. Except as may otherwise be provided in such Act. the plebiscite shall
be held within one hundred twenty (120) days from the date of its effectivity.

Section 450. Requisites for Creation.

(a) A municipality or a cluster of barangays may be converted into a component city if it

has an average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance, of at least
Twenty million (P20,000,000.00) for the last two (2) consecutive years based on 1991
constant prices, and if it has either of the following requisites:

(i) a contiguous territory of at least one hundred (100) square kilometers, as

certified by the Lands Management Bureau; or

(ii) a population of not less than one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) inhabitants,
as certified by the National Statistics Office:

Provided, That, the creation thereof shall not reduce the land area, population, and
income of the original unit or units at the time of said creation to less than the
minimum requirements prescribed herein.

(b) The territorial jurisdiction of a newly-created city shall be properly identified by metes
and bounds. The requirement on land area shall not apply where the city proposed to be
created is composed of one (1) or more islands. The territory need not be contiguous if it
comprises two (2) or more islands.

(c) The average annual income shall include the income accruing to the general fund,
exclusive of specific funds, transfers, and non-recurring income.

Section 451. Cities, Classified. - A city may either be component or highly urbanized:
Provided, however, that the criteria established in this Code shall not affect the classification and
corporate status of existing cities.

Component cities whose charters prohibit their voters from voting for provincial elective
officials. Independent component cities shall be independent of the province . Independent
component cities are those with a minimum population of 150,000 and annual income of at
least 350 million pesos (₱350,000,000) based on 2008 constant prices, as certified by the City
Treasurer. There are five such cities: Dagupan, Cotabato, Naga, Ormoc and Santiago.

Section 452. Highly Urbanized Cities.

(a) Cities with a minimum population of two hundred thousand (200,000) inhabitants as
certified by the National Statistics Office, and within the latest annual income of at least
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 Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00) based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the
city treasurer, shall be classified as highly urbanized cities.

(b) Cities which do not meet above requirements shall be considered component cities of
the province in which they are geographically located. If a component city is located within
the boundaries of two (2) or more provinces, such city shall be considered a component
of the province of which it used to be a municipality.

(c) Qualified voters of highly urbanized cities shall remain excluded from voting for
elective provincial officials.

Unless otherwise provided in the Constitution or this Code, qualified voters of

independent component cities shall be governed by their respective charters, as
amended, on the participation of voters in provincial elections.

Qualified voters of cities who acquired the right to vote for elective provincial officials prior
to the classification of said cities as highly-urbanized after the ratification of the
Constitution and before the effectivity of this Code, shall continue to exercise such right.

Section 453. Duty to Declare Highly Urbanized Status. - It shall be the duty
of the President to declare a city as highly urbanized within thirty (30) days after it shall have
met the minimum requirements prescribed in the immediately preceding section, upon proper
application therefor and ratification in a plebiscite by the qualified voters therein.

Members of Congress (usually the representatives of the district to which the proposed city
belongs) then draft the legislation that will convert or create the city. After the bill passes through
both the House of Representatives and the Senate and becomes an Act of Congress, the
President signs the Act into law. If the Act goes unsigned after 30 days it still becomes law
despite the absence of the President's signature.
Before 1987 many cities were created without any plebiscites conducted for the residents to
ratify the city charter, most notable of which were cities that were incorporated during the early
American colonial period (Manila and Baguio), and during the Commonwealth Era (1935-1946)
such as Cavite City, Dansalan (now Marawi), Iloilo City, Bacolod, San Pablo and Zamboanga
City. In addition, the creation of cities before the enactment of the Local Government Code was
solely at the discretion of Congress; no requirements had to be met in order to incorporate cities
before the LGC became law. But since 1987 it has been constitutionally mandated that any
change to the legal status of any local government unit requires the ratification by the residents
that would be affected by such changes, thus all cities created after 1987, after meeting the
requirements for cityhood as laid out in the Local Government Code of 1991 and Republic Act
No. 9009 of 2001, acquired their corporate status only after the majority of its voting residents
approved the charter.

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