Municipalities of the Philippines in the context of "Barangay hall"

The barangay (/bɑːrɑːŋˈɡaɪ/; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically known as the barrio, is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the precolonial polities of the same name, modern barangays are political subdivisions of cities and municipalities, and are analogous to villages, districts, neighborhoods, suburbs, or boroughs. The term barangay is derived from balangay, a type of boat used by Austronesian peoples when they migrated to the Philippines.

All cities, including independent cities, and municipalities in the Philippines are politically subdivided into barangays, with the exception of the municipalities of Adams in Ilocos Norte and Kalayaan in Palawan, each of which contains only one barangay. Barangays are sometimes informally subdivided into smaller areas called purok (English: "zone"), or barangay zones consisting of clusters of houses for organizational purposes, and sitios, which are territorial enclaves—usually rural—located far from the poblacion. As of January 2025, there are 42,011 barangays throughout the country.

The Philippines is divided into four levels of administrative divisions, with the lower three being defined in the Local Government Code of 1991 as local government units (LGUs). They are, from the highest to the lowest:

1. Regions (Filipino: rehiyon) are mostly used to organize national services. Of the 18 regions, only one—the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao—has an elected government to which the central government has devolved competencies.
2. Provinces (Filipino: lalawigan or probinsya), independent cities (Filipino: malayang lungsod or siyudad), and one independent municipality (Pateros)
3. Component cities (Filipino: nakapaloob na lungsod or siyudad) and municipalities (Filipino: bayan or munisipalidad) within a province
4. Barangays (formerly known and sometimes still referred to as barrios) within a city or municipality

Other divisions also exist for specific purposes, such as:

Poblacion (from Spanish población, meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It may consist of a single barangay or multiple barangays. Colloquially, the poblacion area is also referred to as the bayan (see also other definitions of bayan), plaza, or centro.

In the Philippines, provinces (Filipino: lalawigan or probinsiya) are one of its primary political and administrative divisions. There are 82 provinces at present, which are further subdivided into component cities and municipalities. The local government units in the National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are independent of any provincial government. Each province is governed by an elected legislature called the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and an elected governor.

The provinces are grouped into 18 regions based on geographical, cultural, and ethnological characteristics. Thirteen of these regions are numerically designated from north to south, while the National Capital Region, the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Southwestern Tagalog Region (Mimaropa), the Negros Island Region, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are only designated by acronyms.

In the Philippines, local government is divided into three levels: provinces and independent cities, component cities and municipalities, and barangays, all of which are collectively known as local government units (LGUs). In some areas, above provinces and independent chartered cities are autonomous regions, such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Some towns and cities remit their revenue to national government and is returned through the national government through a process called internal revenue allotment. Below barangays in some cities and municipalities are sitios and puroks. All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their own executives and legislatures. Sitios and puroks are often but not necessarily led by an elected barangay councilor.

Provinces and independent cities are organized into national government regions but those are administrative regions and not separately governed areas with their own elected governments.

Saint Augustine Parish Church, commonly known as Paoay Church, is a Roman Catholic church in the municipality of Paoay, Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. It is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Laoag. Completed in 1710, the church is famous for its distinctive architecture, a highlight of which are the enormous buttresses on the sides and the back of the building.

It is declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the Philippine government in 1973 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the collective group of Baroque Churches of the Philippines in 1993.